Strange things happen in the Winter. People sit out doors in the cold holding a fishing line. We forget how to drive every time it snows. Heck, even the ice starts to sublimate in January. But the oddest of things is despite bottomless pit of state pride, Minnesotans head to the desert for February. Deserts aren't typically what I think of as a friendly atmosphere. They get outrageously hot and the animals they have are crazy scary. Like tons of poisonous snakes and other critters (with either exo or endo skeletons). Water is scarce too - kinda important for life. But despite the craziness, a whole gaggle of 'Sotans showed up in Scottsdale for Brendan and Katie O'Connell's wedding. And it was a blast. Good times, great food and even a few cigars (yum!).
In-n-out burger: simply the best. Try the fries animal style. They're amazing. The
secret menu is fun too.
Meg and I spent Sunday afternoon visiting Taliesin West, the winter home of America's greatest Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. The property is a truly curious place with his school of architecture still in operation and working on the campus. We toured Mr. Wright's office which was a great demonstration of
compress and release design - where the entry is uncomfortably small, drawing the user into the intended and much roomer interior. All the doors were strange, low and some were irregular shapes and I'm not sure that any walls were perpendicular to the ground.
The terrain was typical of the Arizona desert with wildlife running all about. As a northerner, I love catci and it was fun to see them in person. One of the more interesting things at Taliesin West was the
desert masonry he used throughout the structure of the buildings. It's basically huge rocks (quartzite, I think) embedded in concrete paste - you can't miss the huge stones showing through in all the walls, ceilings and columns in all the buildings. I can't help but see the beauty in using the existing materials of the land for structure, but showing them off instead of burying them in grey concrete.
Even Meg had a good time. It's a wonderful feeling for me to see people enjoy the things that I work at all day, so it's that much more fun see the effects that a master architect can have on others. Though I have to admit that I was worried that my waxing on about design principles and structures was going to bore her and my worries were amplified as we were something of stranded out at the complex without a car. As we drove out to the edge of the Phoenix basin I was thinking that I would very quickly be shelling out $50 or sixty bucks for a cab to get Meg (or myself) back to the hotel.
Ah the red tile. His signature color was Cherokee Red, sometimes broadly called Taliesin Red. He often used this color with a tile containing his signature for his structures and it was fitting seeing it's bold sheen against the sand, stone and concretes all around on the property.
Strange things happen in the Winter. People sit out doors in the cold holding a fishing line. We forget how to drive every time it snows. Heck, even the ice starts to sublimate in January. But the oddest of things is despite bottomless pit of state pride, Minnesotans head to the desert for February. Deserts aren't typically what I think of as a friendly atmosphere. They get outrageously hot and the animals they have are crazy scary. Like tons of poisonous snakes and other critters (with either exo or endo skeletons). Water is scarce too - kinda important for life. But despite the craziness, a whole gaggle of 'Sotans showed up in Scottsdale for Brendan and Katie O'Connell's wedding. And it was a blast. Good times, great food and even a few cigars (yum!).
In-n-out burger: simply the best. Try the fries animal style. They're amazing. The secret menu is fun too.
Meg and I spent Sunday afternoon visiting Taliesin West, the winter home of America's greatest Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. The property is a truly curious place with his school of architecture still in operation and working on the campus. We toured Mr. Wright's office which was a great demonstration of compress and release design - where the entry is uncomfortably small, drawing the user into the intended and much roomer interior. All the doors were strange, low and some were irregular shapes and I'm not sure that any walls were perpendicular to the ground.
The terrain was typical of the Arizona desert with wildlife running all about. As a northerner, I love catci and it was fun to see them in person. One of the more interesting things at Taliesin West was the desert masonry he used throughout the structure of the buildings. It's basically huge rocks (quartzite, I think) embedded in concrete paste - you can't miss the huge stones showing through in all the walls, ceilings and columns in all the buildings. I can't help but see the beauty in using the existing materials of the land for structure, but showing them off instead of burying them in grey concrete.
Even Meg had a good time. It's a wonderful feeling for me to see people enjoy the things that I work at all day, so it's that much more fun see the effects that a master architect can have on others. Though I have to admit that I was worried that my waxing on about design principles and structures was going to bore her and my worries were amplified as we were something of stranded out at the complex without a car. As we drove out to the edge of the Phoenix basin I was thinking that I would very quickly be shelling out $50 or sixty bucks for a cab to get Meg (or myself) back to the hotel.
Ah the red tile. His signature color was Cherokee Red, sometimes broadly called Taliesin Red. He often used this color with a tile containing his signature for his structures and it was fitting seeing it's bold sheen against the sand, stone and concretes all around on the property.
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