Famed American Architect's Desert Home Brings Crowds

 

Every year as southern Arizona cooled, architect Frank Lloyd Wright and his students would travel there to escape the cold of winter in Wisconsin.

Wright’s students built shelters at a place he called Taliesin West, northeast of the state capital, Phoenix¹. They stayed there during the winter term of his School of Architecture. The buildings were wide open to nature. They had no electricity, running water, doors or windows.

The shelters are still used as housing today.

From 1937 until 1959, when Wright died, Taliesin West was the winter home of America’s most famous architect. The original Taliesin was Wright’s home in southwestern Wisconsin, a central state.

Taliesin is the name of a sixth-century writer. It means “shining brow.”

The buildings of Taliesin West are made of redwood beams and large rocks. They were covered early on in almost-transparent² canvas to let in light. The canvas was later replaced with plastic, which is stronger against the desert sun. Windows were large openings without glass.

The 198-hectare site in Scottsdale, near the McDowell Mountains, is still the winter home of the graduate school. Students can earn a Master of Architecture degree there. It is also the headquarters of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which governs many of the architect’s buildings.

More than 100,000 people visit Taliesin West each year. It has been named a National Historic Landmark³. Wright Foundation officials say the number of visitors has increased sharply because this year marks the 150th anniversary of Wright’s birth. Visitors can see the room where Wright designed some of his most famous buildings, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Wright lived to see more than 500 of his designs built. They include homes, offices and schools. Another very famous Wright work is Fallingwater, a private home built over a waterfall in a Pennsylvania forest. Wright also designed the 19-story Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma; Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida; and the Ennis House, a home in Los Angeles designed like a Mayan temple.

Experts say Taliesin West is among the best buildings Wright designed. At the home, visitors can see the same desert landscape that Wright and his students looked at from the room where they created. It is a view that Wright once called “a look over the rim⁴ of the world.”

I’m Caty Weaver⁵.

Words in This Story

architect -n. a person who designs buildings?

beam -n. a long and heavy piece of wood or metal that is used as a support in a building or ship?

transparent -adj. able to be seen throug?

canvas -n. a strong, rough cloth that is used to make bags, tents, sails, etc.?

landscape -n. an area of land that has a particular quality or appearance?

rim -n. the outer edge of a usually round object

1 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

2 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

3 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

4 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

5 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。