Taliesin West, Dining Room, 12621 North Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard, Scottsdale

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

The Dining Room at Taliesin West exemplifies Frank Lloyd Wright s Organic Architectural design style. Wright integrates a sustainable relationship between people, the built environment, and the surrounding natural world. Wright and his apprentices built the Taliesin West complex between often referred to as Wright s Second Golden Age. The complex is located within the arid, desert foothills of the McDowell Mountains in Scottsdale, Arizona; it served as Wright s winter home and academic campus for his Taliesin Fellowship.1 The Dining Room was part of the initial set of structures, whose original use was an open loggia between the Kitchen and the Wrights private quarters. However, its purpose was changed in when it became the main dining area for the growing apprentices.

The structure consists of desert masonry walls incorporating the surrounding environment into its design, representing an extension of the desert while displaying many of Wright s signature architectural techniques. Historians: Arthur Longoria & Zhao Xu

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

Documentation of the Dining Room and Kitchen at Taliesin West was sponsored by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and conducted by students in the School of Architecture + Planning at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Fieldwork was completed during the summer of by Nathan B. Flores, Leah Miranda Garrison, Christina M. Garza, Austen W. Keithly, Jose J. Lizcano Medina, Lori M. Martinez, Kurt G. Megerle, Cyrus Melendez, Samuel M. Pena, Jennifer R. Uria, Wenxi Zhu. Final Drawings were completed during the summer of by Tae Joo Jeon, Mark R. Morin, and Adam A. Perez. Documentation was undertaken with Sue Ann Pemberton, FAIA, FAPT, as faculty supervisor. PART 1: HISTORICAL INFORMATION A. Physical History 1 Isabel Howard et al. HABS Taliesin West Cabaret HABS No. AZ-218-C.

Library of Congress. July, TALIESIN WEST, DINING ROOM HABS No. AZ- 218-E (page 2) 1. Date of erection: Winter 2. Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin, on June 8, After completing his first year and a half at The University of Wisconsin at Madison, he left the university to apprentice under the well-renowned Conover and Silsbee firm before becoming chief assistant to architect Louis Sullivan. In Wright left Sullivan to establish his own practice. From Wright s initial work, defined as The Prairie Style, can be described as display[ing] a wide, low roof over continuous window bands that turned corners, defying the conventional boxlike structure of most houses, [while] the house s main rooms flowed together in an uninterrupted space.

4 After suffering several personal tragedies at Taliesin in Wisconsin, Wright met his third wife, Olgivanna Hinzenberg, in and married in In Wright and Olgivanna established the Taliesin Fellowship, a community of apprentices and their families who lived, worked and studied with Wright first at Taliesin in Wisconsin and later at Taliesin West in Arizona. The program provided a total learning environment integrating all aspects of the apprentices lives with the intent of educating responsible, creative and cultured human beings. Then, in after suffering a near-fatal bout with pneumonia, doctors recommended Wright should spend winters in a warmer, drier climate leading to the discovery of the perfect location in Scottsdale, AZ.

In he founded Taliesin West and bought several hundred acres as an experimental desert laboratory for architectural materials. Thus, Taliesin West became Wright s winter home, office, studio, and the winter location of the Taliesin Fellowship. Wright continued to construct and alter buildings at Taliesin West and completed commissions for other architectural designs until his death on April 9, at 91. After his death, Wright s legacy was continued by Olgivanna and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.5 3. Original and subsequent owners, occupants, uses: The Dining Room was built in the space of the open loggia in to provide more space for the growing number of apprentices in the ranks and replaced the previously used dining room south of the kitchen.

The previous dining room was converted into a small, private dining room where Mr. and Wright could entertain friends and clients. 6 Today the Dining Room continues its use as a dining area for employees and guests of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. 4. Builder, contractors, suppliers: Wright built Taliesin West, with his apprentices completing most of the work. The apprentices acted as builders and contractors and served as suppliers when sand and boulders were collected by hand from desert washes. Apprentices began initial excavations using hand tools; however, the caliche 2 Curtis Besinger, Working With Mr. Wright: What It Was Like (New York: Cambridge University Press, 44. 3 Bruce Brooks Pfeifer, Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin West (Tokyo, Japan: ADA EDITA Tokyo Co. 28.

4 Gunny Harboe, Preservation Master Plan, 18. 5 Gunny Harboe, Preservation Master Plan, 76 6 Gunny Harboe, Preservation Master Plan, 24. TALIESIN WEST, DINING ROOM HABS No. AZ- 218-E (page 3) occasionally proved too hard even for the young and eager apprentices. Therefore, a bulldozer operator from Phoenix was hired to do the initial excavations. A later account by apprentice Kamal Amin notes Entz White as a building material store in Phoenix, from which materials such as cement, nails, canvas, and wood for casting concrete forms might have been bought. Every part of Taliesin West bears Frank Lloyd Wright s personal touch. Upon every return after a summer in Wisconsin, Wright would grab a hammer and immediately make his way through the complex.

He would walk through each room, make changes, or shout orders to apprentices closely following with wheelbarrows and tools. 1 5. Original plans and constructions: Having been part of some of the first spaces designed at Taliesin West, original plans were drafted out in the open desert on brown butcher paper with drawings that were more like schematic sketches than working construction drawings and provided minimal information for construction. 4 Due to this, not much of the original plans outside of the designation for space of an open loggia is known. Furthermore, the conversion to its current state was also done by simply enclosing the loggia, further limiting any documentation on the construction of the space. 6.

Alterations and additions: Due to the growth of the Fellowship, the open loggia was converted into a large dining space by This dining space was expanded on the northside with a steel framed glass enclosure in While initially made of the desert masonry wall and wood structure, the room was demolished, leaving only the masonry, and was rebuilt with a steel structure in The last known addition was wood veneer cabinets along the northwest wall in the B. Historical Context The Dining Room is unique to Frank Lloyd Wright s style and Taliesin West; it is unlike any building in the world. Wright is considered one of the greatest names in American modern architecture; scholars agree that Wright s architectural vision stands apart from all others.

Contemporaries such as Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, and Le Corbusier, considered forefront innovators of modern architecture, differ from Wright, who waved away the stark minimalism of the era. Instead, Wright developed his unique idea of minimalism: the idea of Organic Architecture. In his mind, any building could be adapted to its site and built using the natural materials available in the area. The detail would come from the texture of the materials themselves; therefore, minimalism was inherent in the design of Organic Architecture. Taliesin West is a masterpiece of Organic Architecture. Each building is appropriately oriented to benefit from breezes, shade, and cross-ventilation.

Desert masonry construction melds colors and textures with the desert landscape, and Cherokee-Red paint, Wright s signature color, echoes the color of the desert floor. At Taliesin West, Wright developed a cultural environment for the Taliesin Fellowship that was as unique as the master architect himself. Wright insisted that a well-rounded experience for his students included musical performances in the evenings and on weekends. In addition, Wright TALIESIN WEST, DINING ROOM HABS No. AZ- 218-E (page 4) expected students to work in the fields, tend the garden, mix the concrete, weave rugs, and cook meals. Each task taught valuable skills that transfer to the practice of architecture. The community activities set the Taliesin Fellowship apart from other architecture schools.

The Fellowship was a critical part of the design and education community that sought to contribute to creating a better environment for all inhabitants.7 Designed as a laboratory, workshop, and cultural space, Taliesin West has no parallel in American or international architecture. Wright was keenly aware of the unique desert camp he created. Taliesin West is as original as the Maya, he wrote to a friend in The desert compound continues to fascinate historians and visitors today.8 PART II. ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATION A. General Statement 1. Architectural Character: Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings are unique in Modern Architecture, and the Dining Room is no exception.

Built as one of the first spaces at Taliesin West, the Dining Room is a long desert masonry and steel structure adjoining the Kitchen and open corridor to the Garden Room. The walls are made of desert masonry, and fully glazed facades look out into the orchard and desert landscape. 2. Condition of the fabric: The current state of the Dining Room is fair. Two factors influencing the condition are the building s role as a tourist site and the simple design. As a tourist site, the building is included in year-round public tours and therefore receives needed attention from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation staff. The simple design has a concrete floor, desert masonry walls, and steel structure ceiling, which requires minimal routine maintenance.

The Dining Room is routinely assessed for potential repairs by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation s preservation department, and Gunny Harboe, FAIA led the team at Harboe Architects, Chicago to create the Preservation Master Plan for Taliesin West in B. Description of Exterior 1. Overall dimensions: The Dining Room is the one-story area of a two-story structure, measuring approximately 44 x 29 (not including the mail room) within a larger building and adjoins the Kitchen. The overall shape of the building is rectangular with a few protrusions. 2. Foundations: The foundation is concrete on hard caliche. 3.

Walls: The walls are a mixture of sand, Portland cement, and large, flat stone, often surrounded by small stones that Wright referred to as goose eggs collected from the surrounding desert. 7 Isabel Howard et al. 8 Isabel Howard et al. 9 Isabel Howard et al. TALIESIN WEST, DINING ROOM HABS No. AZ- 218-E (page 5) 4. Structural system, framing: The structural system consists of load bearing desert masonry walls and a structural steel ceiling. 5. Openings: a. Doorways and doors: The Dining Room has two interior and two exterior doors. A large single pivot door measuring approximately 4 x 6 -3 is located at the main entryway on the southeast side of the building. Adjacent to this entry are two 4 x 3 - 11 double doors that are kept locked.

A trapezoidal exterior door approximately 7 - 8 x 6 -3 on the northeast side of the building is built of plywood and was custom- designed to fit the irregularly shaped desert masonry door frame. An identical trapezoidal door opens into the Kitchen on the northwest side of the Dining Room. Besides the irregularly shaped entry, an interior door approximately 2 -8 x 6 opens into a cold storage pantry. b. Windows: There are no traditional windows. Instead, the exterior enclosure consists of ceiling-to-floor glazing with metal frames. Above the intermediate horizontal frame are operable glass panes. 6. Roof: a. Shape and covering: The ceiling is of steel construction and is simply a flat roof where it cantilevers beyond the upper floor. b.

Eaves/exterior decorative features and trim: Most exterior walls are desert masonry without eaves. Along the northeast side, following the main axis, the glazed exterior wall has a protruding flat roof with wood trim and decorative dentils. C. Description of the Interior 1. Floor Plans: The Dining Room is a single-story space at the lower level of a two-story structure with a large dining area, data closet, cold storage pantry, and mail room. 2. Flooring: The entire Dining Room is carpet covering concrete flooring. 3. Wall and Ceiling Finish: The walls are desert masonry (concrete with locally found stones and rubble) and metal framed glazing along the space's northern and eastern exterior walls.

The ceiling is made of exposed painted steel beams, cloth-covered panels, and acrylic panels over the lighting fixtures with wood trim. 4. Mechanical Equipment: a. Heating, air conditioning, ventilation: The desert masonry materials absorb heat from the sun during the day and radiate heat at night, creating a passive heating and cooling system. Air conditioning was introduced in the mid-1960s when the canvas panels TALIESIN WEST, DINING ROOM HABS No. AZ- 218-E (page 6) were replaced with fiberglass. The glazed panels on the north side of the corridor open to allow ventilation from prevailing winds. b. Lighting: Lighting includes eight custom box-like ceiling-mounted fixtures by the glazed northeast wall with three more in the mail room.

In addition, there are two rows of recessed lighting stretching along the long side of the space. The recessed lights are covered with a white acrylic panel and wood fins. 5. Original furniture: Originally, when the area was a loggia, it was set up with looms for weaving, but later long tables with bench seating were added and it became an outdoor dining space 6. When the loggia became the enclosed dining room, the furniture was changed to different tables with chair seating. D. Site 1. Historic Landscape design: The entire complex of Taliesin West was designed with a precise configuration that Wright meticulously followed as each building was constructed.

Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer recounts, Taliesin West was [ ] planned [ ] as one opus set on concrete terraces and surrounded by massive low masonry walls. Wright cared very much that the site and its relation to the mountain range to the north dictated the orientation of the plan. In Mr. Pfeiffer s words, No building, if Mr. Wright could help it, was ever placed on a direct north-south axis. 10 2. Outbuildings: There are no original outbuildings. The Dining Room is currently attached to the main Kitchen on its northwest side. PART III. SOURCES OF INFORMATION A.

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

Besinger, Curtis. Working With Mr. Wright: What It Was Like. New York: Cambridge University Press, Harboe, Gunny. Preservation Master Plan. Chicago: Harboe Architects, Howard, I., Hillin, G., Lazaro, N., & McCormick, L. HABS Taliesin West Cabaret HABS No. AZ-218-C. Library of Congress, Pfeifer, Bruce Brooks. Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin West. Tokyo, Japan: ADA EDITA Tokyo Co. 10 Isabel Howard et al. TALIESIN WEST, DINING ROOM HABS No. AZ- 218-E (page 7) Likely Sources Not Yet Investigated: Additional accounts from apprentices could provide relevant information regarding details of construction, building supply information, or more detailed timelines of changes to the Dining Room.

Fellowship member Indira Berndston, Administrator of Historic Studies, Collections and Exhibition, has conducted numerous oral interviews with former apprentices over the last 30 years. Additional research into her files could yield supplemental information.