The Loft

Carrying on the tradition of student-built desert shelters at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West, 'The Loft' was designed, constructed and inhabited as a final year thesis project at The School of Architecture at Taliesin in 2019. The thesis explored concepts of functional and aesthetic adaptability, the psychology of user control, and the idea of anticipatory architecture as a spatial framework that supports a built environment in a constant state of change. A welded steel frame defines a flexible space with a sleeping platform floating above the desert floor. Perforated metal panels (provided by Arktura) and sliding canvas panels respond to the intense desert sun with dynamic play of light and shadow. The remaining openness welcomes future intervention and adaptation from students at Taliesin's living laboratory in years to come.