Taliesin West, Formal Office, 12621 North Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard, Scottsdale

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS AZ-218-C. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

As part of the original campus, the Formal Office at Taliesin West is significant for its association with Frank Lloyd Wright and his Taliesin Fellowship. It is an embodiment of Wright s unique desert masonry, which is distinctive in design, material, and method of construction. Description: The Formal Office is a single-story rectangular building measuring approximately 47 x 30 and articulated into two masses. The larger mass, taking up the eastern three quarters of the building, is divided into three structural bays. The smaller mass is divided into a small vestibule on the northwest corner and enclosed courtyard on the southwest corner. The building is connected to a larger adjacent building, the Cabaret, on the north/northeast side.

The building s structure is constructed of Wright s load bearing desert masonry, a poured technique that utilized boulders sourced from the surrounding desert and aggregate from the area s dry washes mixed with sand and Portland cement. The walls are battered and rise three courses on the east, south and west sides, and two courses on the north side. The slope-style roof rises to the north side of the building and is suspended from four massive steel flitch beams sandwiched in redwood. Between the flitch beams steel framing supports an acrylic roof and interior canvas ceiling panels. The flitch beams also have built in gutters to shed water from the roof. The main doorway is located on the west side of the building facing the entrance court and parking lot.

This doorway, constructed of steel framed glass, is a stretched polygonal shape fit to the angled entryway and roof slope. A second doorway on the south side of the building is of conventional rectangular shape and opens to the fountain plaza and pergola. TALIESIN WEST, FORMAL OFFICE HABS No. AZ-218-C (Page 2) The northern interior wall is divided into three bays with the easternmost bay filled entirely by the desert masonry fireplace. A redwood beam, floating above the two-course north wall, spans the space between the fireplace and western wall. A ribbon window fills the space between the top of the wall and bottom of the redwood span. The two bays above the span are glazed. The south wall has no windows as the angled roof meets the top of the wall at this point.

The windows above the eastern wall stretch to meet the angled roofline and are of rhomboid shape that scale in increasing size south to north. The windows on the west side of the building are square framed and follow the roof angle. The small open courtyard is enclosed by the exterior desert masonry walls on the south and west sides, and is separated from the interior space by a glass wall (there is a glass door in this wall that gives access to the space). History: Positioned as the first structure encountered from the entrance court, Wright used the office as the reception area where he greeted his clients and visitors.

As part of the historic core, Wright s Office, along with the Drafting Studio, the Kitchen, the Original Dining Room, the Peters and Masselink Rooms, the Loggia, and the Kiva, were the first buildings constructed at Taliesin West beginning in 1 But, like the rest of the campus, the office was a work-in-progress and changed over the years according to Wright s refinements and improvements. The Taliesin Fellowship followed a seasonal schedule wherein summers were spent at the original Spring Green, Wisconsin campus, and winters at Taliesin West in Arizona. As part of the Fellowship experience Wright taught his students by having them construct the buildings and execute his periodic modifications. The first series of winters at Taliesin West saw frequent changes by Wright.

2 The office was originally constructed during the winter stay with desert masonry walls, redwood trusses, and canvas paneled fenestrations and roof. During the winter stay, the roof system was redesigned and a band of lapped redwood boards was added at the center of the roof. 3 The banded boards terminated with upturned ends. Six years later the canvas panels were reconfigured and the lapped wood boards were removed. During the late the office s clerestory was glazed. 4 1 Harboe Architects, Taliesin West History and Chronology, Taliesin West Preservation Master Plan, (Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, 20. 2 Curtis Besinger, Working With Mr. Wright: What It Was Like. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 3 Harboe Architects, Taliesin West History, 44. 4 Ibid.

TALIESIN WEST, FORMAL OFFICE HABS No. AZ-218-C (Page 3) Although the canvas paneled roofs provided a diffused light that Wright found desirable, the panels themselves could not withstand the intense Arizona summers and required frequent replacement. 5 In the early the canvas panels were once again reconfigured, and in the roof was completely reconstructed with the present-day flitch beam system. 6 In the mid-1960s the roof panels were replaced with fiberglass panels, and a louvered wood door was added on the west wall. 7 In the mid-1980s the concrete floor was removed and reconstructed with colored concrete, and the louvered door was replaced with the present day steel and glass door.

8 In the early the fiberglass roof panels were replaced with acrylic panels, and in the roof was completely reconstructed with a new system of exterior acrylic panels and interior canvas panels. 9

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS AZ-218-C. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Besinger, Curtis. Working With Mr. Wright: What It Was Like. New York: Cambridge University Press, Brierly, Cornelia. Tales of Taliesin: A Memoir of Fellowship. Tempe: Arizona State University. Harboe Architects. Taliesin West History and Chronology. Taliesin West Preservation Master Plan, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation,

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS AZ-218-C. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Documentation of the Formal Office was sponsored by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Graduate students from the College of Architecture, Construction and Planning of the University of Texas at San Antonio began documentation during the summer of with Sue Ann Pemberton, FAIA as the faculty sponsor. The project was completed by John Mikel Gonzalez and submitted to HABS through the Peterson Prize student drawing competition. 5 Cornelia Brierly, Tales of Taliesin: A Memoir of Fellowship. (Tempe: Arizona State University, 6 Harboe Architects, Taliesin West History, 44. 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid.