Issue May 1st 2024 May 1st 2024

Announcements

Help Bring A Rare Photographic Collection Home

The OA+D Archives is an educational non-profit that prides itself on delivering results. Whether it’s continuously publishing a top-notch journal three times a year for over a decade, successfully fundraising to conserve and reproduce a large Eugene Masselink mural, or raising enough donations to cover the acquisition of the original Henry Fuermann & Sons glass plate negatives— there are not many goals their wonderful and generous supporters cannot help OA+D accomplish.

Now, a new and exciting fundraising challenge is here that they are eager to share with everyone!

The OA+D Archives is pleased to facilitate the return to Arizona of a major photographic collection documenting the work of Paolo Soleri – member of the Taliesin Fellowship (1947-48) and Arizona-based artist, designer, and author of note.

The collection was produced by Annette Del Zoppo (1936-2001) a Southern California–based photographer, graphic designer, multimedia producer, business owner, and community activist. She was also associated with the office of Charles and Ray Eames from 1961-1970. During that time period she would often travel to the Phoenix area and would meet Soleri and become enchanted with his ideas and work. As a result, she would make a point to return each summer for several years to document the work and events undertaken at Soleri’s studio. Her commitment to visually document Soleri’s work of years ultimately became the basis of a large collection of photos, slides, artifacts, and films that has been in storage for over 30 years and remained largely unknown and unstudied.

The importance of this collection to understanding the organic works of Paolo Soleri cannot be overstated. The collection contains over 9,000 35mm slides—over 200 of which show Arcosanti’s early construction. There are thirty 16mm film reels, 12 reel to reel audio tapes, and a large number of photographic prints. In addition to this visual documentation, Del Zoppo collected a large quantity of Soleri-related publications, brochures, books, and other objects including bells, posters, and more. Because Annette Del Zoppo spent so many years consistently visiting Soleri’s studios, a significant amount of this material is quite likely the only remaining documentation of lost or unknown Soleri work.

Thanks to the diligent efforts of The OA+D Archives in preserving important collections of organic architects and designers and the large amount of Paolo Soleri material already extant in their collections waiting to be processed, the Del Zoppo Collection has been offered to the organization. Their intention is to bring it home to Arizona, catalog it, digitize it, and make it available to scholars and anyone else interested in the increasingly relevant ideas of environmentally harmonious architecture.

But to do all this, OA+D needs your help. Their goal is to raise $25,000 in tax-deductible donations to cover the expenses related to acquiring, processing, and digitizing this important collection.

Please consider a tax-exempt donation of $500 or more to help OA+D return this important architectural resource to Arizona and make it available to organic enthusiasts everywhere.

DONATE HERE

The Headlines

Camp Taliesin West Returns, Now Enrolling For Summer 2024 Sessions

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation today announced the return of its popular Camp Taliesin West with a lineup of full- and half-day sessions for K-12 students on topics surrounding architecture, science, art and photography, both available in-person at Taliesin West, Wright’s winter home and studio in Scottsdale, and virtually through Zoom.

Taliesin West’s trained museum educators provide an enriching STEAM education by combining Wright’s principles of organic architecture and solutions-based design with engaging and interactive activities. Through a variety of crafts, insightful discussions from guest speakers, tours of the World Heritage Site, intricate model-building projects and more, campers will be encouraged to harness their critical thinking skills, ignite their creativity and foster a sustainable mindset.

“Camp Taliesin West offers a unique learning experience for students who are passionate or curious about architecture and STEAM disciplines,” said Abbie Wilson, youth and family programs manager at the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. “Whether participating in person or virtually, every camper is ensured a rewarding, collaborative and enriching experience.”

Day camp sessions starting in June and running through early August. Camp Taliesin West is currently enrolling, with enrollment fees ranging from $40 to $400 per session and spots fill quickly.

Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy Announces 2024 Conference in Detroit

The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, the only organization dedicated to preserving Frank Lloyd Wright’s remaining built works, announces that its 35th annual conference will take place in Detroit, Michigan, September 25-29, 2024. Around 200 attendees from across the country will include Wright homeowners & building stewards, preservation advocates, scholars, and design enthusiasts.

Tours will showcase at least six Wright-designed houses, taking us across southeast Michigan and spanning sixteen years of the architect’s career: Affleck House (Bloomfield Hills, 1940), Goetsch-Winckler House (Okemos, 1939), Palmer House (Ann Arbor, 1950), Smith House (Bloomfield Hills, 1946), Turkel House (Detroit, 1955), and Schaberg House (Okemos, 1950). We will also visit landmarks of the Detroit metro area designed by notable architects including Eliel and Eero Saarinen, Paul Rudolph, William Kessler and more. Many of these are private homes not regularly open to tours.

Talks will focus on the conference theme, Frank Lloyd Wright & the American City Today. Speakers from a variety of disciplines and perspectives will examine the relationships of Wright’s work and legacy to historical and contemporary issues of American landscapes, cities and suburbs through a critical lens.

Celebrations build community and strengthen support for the preservation of Wright’s work. Festivities begin Wednesday night with a reception at the Book Tower, and culminate in a Saturday night gala at the Westin Book Cadillac, allowing us to toast two major historic preservation success stories in downtown Detroit. The gala, which features an online silent auction, honors the recipients of the Conservancy’s annual Wright Spirit Awards, which are given to individuals and organizations who have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to preserving Wright’s legacy.

The complete program will be announced in late May when registration opens at savewright.org/conference. Our conference committee includes Lisa DiChiera (Detroit Historic Designation Advisory Board), Audra Dye (City of Detroit), Tanya Gazdik (journalist & native Detroiter), Tim Quigley (Quigley Architects), Norm Silk & Dale Morgan (owners of the Turkel House & Blossoms), Ilene Tyler (architect, author, preservationist), and Greg Wittkopp (Cranbrook).

Visit Fallingwater and Then Spend the Night at Lynn Hall

Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright marvel that floats above a waterfall in Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands, might be the most iconic house in America.

The man who handcrafted Wright’s stone, glass, and concrete design in 1936 began building his own organic modernism gem — Lynn Hall — a year earlier, 200 miles north, in McKean County.

Fallingwater, a national historic landmark and tourist attraction above the waters of Bear Run, only offers tours, but visitors can spend the night at Lynn Hall thanks to owners Rick Sparkes and Adam Grant. The determined dreamers from Florida found the abandoned and dilapidated building online, visited, and purchased the property in 2017 for $250,000.

They’ve since dropped over $1 million into its restoration. “It just had a magical feel to it,” Grant said. “We couldn’t believe no one was saving it.”

According to author Ed Byers, who wrote about Lynn Hall for the Pennsylvania Wilds tourism website, Walter J. Hall was already building his project when Wright was asked to design a home for a Pittsburgh businessman. Hall, a fan of Wright’s work, envisioned Lynn Hall as a rest stop on scenic Route 6, featuring hotel rooms, a restaurant, a dance hall, a gas station, and housing and office space for his family.

Wright, according to Lynn Hall’s website, discovered Hall’s “innovative use of poured concrete and mosaic stonework” and asked him to join the Fallingwater team at Bear Run. According to Byers, Hall put a pause on Lynn Hall to help construct Fallingwater, and he and the famous architect often butted heads.

“Walter’s penchant for ‘artistic license’ and making changes ‘on the fly’ in Wright’s absence drove Wright mad,” Byers wrote. While Byers wrote about a “controversy” between Fallingwater and Lynn Hall regarding which piece of organic modernism came first in Pennsylvania, Sparkes and Grant say the two properties get along just fine. The team at Fallingwater, Grant said, was instrumental in helping Lynn Hall land on the National Register of Historic Places.

“The folks at Fallingwater very much understand the importance of Lynn Hall,” Grant said. “It’s all part of a movement beyond one or two examples.”

Sparkes and Grant, in researching Hall, found that his son, Raymond Viner Hall, helped usher in an era of “Allegheny Modernism,” designing and building approximately 120 Usonian homes, inspired by Wright, and 27 schools and public buildings in the region.

“They’re little-known masterpieces,” Sparkes said.

Lynn Hall is on Airbnb, with two accommodations: the Usonian Cottage and the Architects Suite. It’s located in Port Allegany, approximately 290 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

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