Java.Mar.2016

developments utilized the canals; first the Spanish
and then Anglo settlers elaborated and built with
them rather than obliterating them.
At Taliesin West, there is a great plan to renovate
and restore this historic campus. Unfortunately there
are places where the concrete is literally crumbling.
First there would need to be a lot of stabilization.
Then we would like to explore the idea of taking the
structures back to the original notion of being part of
the land and the climate. They were made as canvas
tents, with abstractions of the desert. I think that
would be truly fantastic.
Taliesin West strikes me as a kind of spiritual
place, like Machu Picchu and other powerful
spots around the globe.
As far as the spiritual goes, people can decide for
themselves. Frank Lloyd Wright certainly had an
incredibly intuitive sense of the land. He found this
site that is nestled below the McDowell Mountains
and above the Valley, with a view over it. This place
was also important to the original [Native American]
inhabitants. We’re sitting here looking right on axis
[points out the window] with the tallest peak of the
McDowells, but at the same time it is the one place
in the McDowells where this spur comes out and
meets Taliesin. That’s exactly where Wright sited
it—against that spur coming out, continuing into
the landscape. If you look carefully, you can see
how he plays this whole game of call and response
with the landscape. Taliesin West not only nestles
into the landscape but dances with it. It’s an active
relationship, so you are really much more aware of
where you are.
You are training future professional architects.
Is that satisfying?
I like to think of architecture as a discipline—as a
way of knowing, understanding and transforming
the human-made environment. Thinking of it as
a profession makes me nervous. For me it’s very
important to understand that architecture is not
science. Building is science. Buildings have to stand
up and be safe and efficient.
Architecture is not building. It is the art of building.
But the relationship between architecture and
building has gotten much more complex because
we now have computer technology that allows us to
build anything we can imagine. We can model our
imagination in structural terms quite directly. There is
no longer a need to make elaborate recalculations for
every small change. The computer does it instantly.
The act of imagination can be a structural work. The
act of structural experimentation can be an imaginary
one as well. This has changed the way we think
about and understand the place of buildings. That old
split between façade and structure is less relevant.
Now there are engineers who become famous
architects. Santiago Calatrava is an example, but his
work is only good from the waist up. There are other
firms integrating these structural concepts on a much
higher level.
As far as being here, I am honored and humbled
to have the opportunity to continue the work that
has made Taliesin a workshop for reinventing
American architecture.
JAVA 11
MAGAZINE