Jane Nasta | A Sheltered Life: The History, Preservation, and Interpretation of the Taliesin West Desert Shelters

Jane Nasta (MSHP '23) won the Anthony Nicholas Brady Garvan Award for an Outstanding Thesis. 

Abstract: Taliesin West—founded in 1938 in Scottsdale, Arizona—was the winter home of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, his family, and the team of architectural apprentices who composed Wright’s Taliesin Fellowship. For their living accommodations in Arizona, apprentices camped out on the desert property in either sheepherder tents, shelters that they designed and built themselves, or previously built shelters left behind by former apprentices. Camping in the desert landscape and building a unique shelter were vital aspects of Wright’s learning-by-doing pedagogy that shaped life at Taliesin West. As the program evolved over time, the shelters became increasingly more experimental in their design. Today, the Taliesin West landscape is home to nearly 100 shelter sites displaying a wide spectrum of design influence, materiality, and current condition. The shelter program’s core themes include ephemerality, experimentation, and connection to the natural environment. The shelters embody historic, social, and experiential values in both their tangible and intangible elements, and their future preservation, programming, and interpretation must highlight these distinct values to effectively honor and communicate their sense of place.

This thesis creates a comprehensive history of the Taliesin West shelter program from 1938-2020 that considers its architectural, social, and administrative dimensions. Furthermore, this thesis evaluates the heritage values that contribute to the shelters’ significance and considers future site management by reviewing relevant preservation philosophies and synthesizing potential interpretive themes. These aims are achieved through archival and secondary source research, interviews with former Taliesin apprentices, and on-site observation and documentation.

Download Jane Nasta's thesis, "A Sheltered Life: The History, Preservation, and Interpretation of the Taliesin West Desert Shelters".
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