Brittlebush Taliesin Building, Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture Wisconsin, USA
Brittlebush, Taliesin – Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture
Desert Dwelling, Taliesin School of Architecture Wisconsin, USA
Nov 2, 2010
Brittlebush was developed as a design-build experience for Simón De Agüero, graduate student, designer, and project manager. The design is an experimental desert dwelling for winter residents at Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Simón envisioned the design to be an open-air living space with protective roof and walls for the sleeping area.
image courtesy of architects practice
Brittlebush Taliesin
He designed a steel structure that frames three-inch rammed-earth walls surrounding a patio, fireplace, and bed. The masts and anchors on the structure can adaptively accommodate a 150 square-foot roof membrane of either shade-cloth or vinyl.
The bed platform is situated above a fireplace for passive winter heating. This design concept includes an indoor-outdoor terrace for drinks with friends, or a quiet retreat to sit down and read a book.
The social patio has three chairs and a meditative zen garden, all designed to integrate with the larger whole. Approximately 90% of the steel in the project was salvaged from the school scrap yard; 100% of the earth for the walls was from the school property; 100% of the wood used for the formwork was salvaged from onsite renovation waste.
Erik Krautbauer, a student in the B.A.S. program at Taliesin, was the assistant project manager. The project was supervised by Taliesin faculty, with fabrication expertise provided by the principals of Tenshon (www.tenshon.com).
The structure can be visited on the student-led Taliesin West Desert Shelter Tour on Saturdays at 1:30 pm from mid-November through mid-April.
Simón wishes to acknowledge the following participants in the design and construction of Brittlebush:
Nathaniel Allen, Dakotah Apostolou, Thai Blackburn, Jillian Brooks, William Brunson, Chelsea Clark, Emil Crystal, Simón De Agüero, Matthew Dickerson, Daniel Dillow, Dave Frazee, Saul Glass-Siegel, Jeff Graham, Christopher Gritzmacher, Saskia Jorda, Aaron Kadoch, Erik Krautbauer, Annett Marsico, Marietta Paglakou, Todd Lehmenkuler, Austin Mahoney, Russell Mahoney, Brian Maxwell, Marli Post, Taryn Seymour, Skye Whitman, Chris Williams, Hui Ee Wong.
Special thanks to project Supporters:
Tenshon (Membrane Fabrication)
GaliPacific (Fabric Manufacturer)
Art installation by Saskia Jorda (www.saskiajorda.com)
Diane Karp
Jane and Curtis Himes
Bob and Gretchin Ravenscroft
Kim Hurtado
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research
HOK
image from architect
Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research
Ellsworth Residence – desert residence, Arizona, USA
Michael P. Johnson Design Studios
photo : Bill Timmerman
Arizona house
Mojave Desert Houses, California, USA
Platform For Architecture + Research
image from architects firm
Desert Houses
Destination Universitas, Nevada Desert
Chetwood Architects
image from architects studio
Texan Desert Architecture
El Paso Housing
OFIS, architects
image from architects practice
El Paso Desert Housing
Comments / photos for the Brittlebush, Taliesin, Wisconsin Architecture design by Simón De Agüero page welcome.
