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.
Approximately 90% of the steel in the project was salvaged from the school scrap yard; 100% of the rammed earth for the walls was from the school property; 100% of the wood used for the formwork was salvaged from onsite renovation waste.
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Architect: Simon De Aguero Location: Scottsdale, Arizona, United States Assistant Project Manager: Erik Krautbauer Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Simon de Aguero & Saskia Jorda
A steel structure was designed to frame 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.
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.
Project Team: 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
