There’s a New Vision for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West

Following restoration projects in 2021, Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s snowbird home and studio near Scottsdale, Arizona, is once again slated for updates. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which is headquartered there, has hired design firm Sasaki to create a holistic vision for the future of the grounds.

"After Wright’s death in 1959, development at Taliesin West was not planful or by design," says Stuart Graff, the foundation’s president and CEO, in a press release. "New technologies, societal changes, and even climate change make having a thoughtful path forward important to the foundation and the surrounding community."

Sasaki, known for its dynamic landscape design projects such as the Boston City Hall Plaza renovation and the Chicago Riverwalk (in partnership with Ross Barney Architects), will develop new strategies surrounding preservation and sustainability for the historic landmark. According to Sasaki, the plan will, "examine the impact of climate change on these sensitive plant communities and prioritize sustainable design practices that reduce the site’s impact on the surrounding ecosystem." The firm will also create a plan for new public engagement initiatives.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s prairie-style buildings are, as he once said, "married to the ground." An homage to the long horizon lines of the Midwest, his low-slung Prairie homes speak to the region’s vastness. At Taliesin West, he crafted a similar naturalistic compound that spoke to the Sonoran desert. The site was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019, alongside eight other of the Wright’s buildings.

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