Architecture Project

For my architecture project I chose Taliesin West, the winter home and school of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, located in Scottsdale, Arizona. Wright started going to Arizona each winter starting in 1933, and in 1937 he purchased the plot that would become Taliesin West. Taliesin West gets its name from Taliesin, which is Frank Lloyd Wright’s summer home. Today Taliesin West is the main campus of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, and is also the location of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

Wright took inspiration from his surroundings when designing Taliesin West. He said, "Arizona's long, low sweeping lines, uplifting planes... Surface patterned after such abstraction in line and color as find "realism" in the patterns of the rattlesnake, the Gila monster, the chameleon, and the saguaro... are inspiration enough." The building is made of local rocks and local wood, and natural light plays a big part in the design.

When I was recreating Taliesin West, I thought it was really interesting how I was taking the original architecture or form and making it my own. I really liked how similar the building structure in my recreation was to the original, but how by using different colors and values and staying away from textures, it turned into something completely different.

I really enjoyed learning how to use the pen tool, and also learning how to color on illustrator. I think these are two tools that are will help me out a lot in future projects.