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The Arizona desert is the backdrop to the thesis projects of students attending The School of Architecture (TSOA). Founded by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1932 as the Taliesin Fellowship, 90 years on, TSOA continues to pursue the principles of organic architecture, as well as an experimental and immersive approach to learning that essentially boils down to learning by doing. The idea behind the Shelter Thesis Program is for students to design a shelter in Arcosanti, a community located 62 miles from Phoenix, which has now been one of the school’s campuses for a couple of years.
In Wright’s day, the Taliesin Fellowship operated between two campuses: one in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and the other in Scottsdale, Arizona, where the architect and his wife, Olgivanna, would spend the winter. In 2020, TSOA announced the move to Arcosanti, an experimental community established in the 1970s in the Arizona desert, conceived by Italo-American architect Paolo Soleri as a model to demonstrate his concept of arcology – a fusion of architecture and ecology. A student of Wright’s, Soleri had previously established the Cosanti Foundation in Paradise Valley, Arizona, a settlement open to university students and a craft workshop, which now forms TSOA’s second campus.
At Arcosanti, students can participate in the Shelter Program, an alternative to the traditional degree thesis that requires them to design and build structures to be used by the local community or as housing for future students, experimenting with different design ideas, forms, and materials. The shelters, created by the students in response to the desert landscape and climate, reflect the school’s focus on the relationship between nature and the built environment, and its commitment to learning by doing.
Under the leadership of Dean Stephanie Lin and President Chris Lasch, and the supervision of faculty members Matthew Trzebiatowski and Lloyd Natof, over the last two years, three students have explored the concept of shelters as their thesis work. Archie Kinney created The Octahedron, an octahedral timber structure that serves as a viewing deck for the desert landscape. Richard Sanchez’s project was Earth Shed, a hybrid project both in its use (it’s a tatami room and a vegetable drying room) and materials (it combines earth building techniques with a wooden frame). Finally, William Palmer designed and built Vergence, a shading structure made of timber and jute ropes.
All images courtesy of The School of Architecture
