Taliesin West

[Rood]

Where does the water come from at TWest?
I guess I mean in general, as in where does Phoenix get water, but also is there a specific place on site where the water originates? Have to imagine that this was a major concern when they first started to camp out there.

The well at Taliesin West is about 1/4 mile southwest of the parking lot, along the original entrance road. I haven't walked the desert in many years, but I believe the solar collectors are now very near to where the well is located.

[Rood]

I guess I mean in general, as in where does Phoenix get water, but also is there a specific place on site where the water originates?

Phoenix gets most of its drinking water from the Verde River ... which empties into the Salt River northeast of Phoenix, not too far from Taliesin West As it says ... the Salt River IS salty ... but Verde River water is sweet .... so the two are mixed together.

The Colorado River Aqueduct* came much later ... not until the late 1970's, and most of that water is used to irrigate farmland ... and to help supply Tucson. Trouble is ... The Colorado River is going dry.

*Today, in order to get to Taliesin West, it's necessary to cross the Aqueduct ... which was built just a half-mile from Taliesin West, but every drop flows by without benefit to Taliesin, and it did force the relocation of the entrance road.

[Roderick Grant]

Though I am certain, from having talked to many of the apprentices who remained after FLW died about various subjects, that T-West did not have A/C during his lifetime, I do believe it had been installed by 1962 when I first visited. But that was late in the season, so it may just have been mild weather. FLW would not have approved of A/C, at least according to Geiger. He was susceptible to cold to the extent that he had trousers made that had straps at the cuffs to keep wind from howling up his pant legs.

[Tom]

Thank you.
I ask because I've just finished some continuing ed. credits on mech. systems and it's on my mind.

Has anybody here used or heard of a residential A/C system that will take cool air from a basement and blow it into the upper floors before the cooling cycle kicks in?

[Duncan]

When I was a kid on the east coast in the 1950's, no one had residential air conditioning. In fact, few public buildings, and no cars did. But when it got really hot, everyone ran their forced air furnace this way...suck the cool air out of the basement and blow it upstairs.

[Roderick Grant]

We were a very "modern" family: We had a '50s air conditioner hanging out of the dining room window. The dining room was frigid enough so we could have hung a side of beef from the ceiling. The rest of the house was as hot and miserable as if there were no A/C at all. It didn't help that our house, pre-WWI vintage, had not a shred of insulation.

[Tom]

Thank you.
Duncan ... is there a name for that ability and function in modern residential units?

[outside in]

This home-cooling method is referred to as stack or convective ventilation. Usually involves leaving a basement window open where air is drawn in and mixed with basement air (by short-circuiting the return air) and then distributed to the rest of the house via the furnace fan. Condensation can be a problem, however.

[Rood]

Thank you.
I ask because I've just finished some continuing ed. credits on mech. systems and it's on my mind.

Has anybody here used or heard of a residential A/C system that will take cool air from a basement and blow it into the upper floors before the cooling cycle kicks in?

This is probably rather late in the game, but the family of a friend of mine in ND cooled their house with air from their basement ... It was probably one of the very few houses in the town with any kind of cooling .. but understand that this was many, many years ago ... probably before automobiles had A/C.

[Roderick Grant]

Does the cooling air include the scent of dampness and staleness often found in the space down under? Before we got a drier, the wash was hung in the basement, about 17 to 20 loads per week. Not a sweet aroma.

[Tom]

Need to correct a statement I remember making about the angled tent roofs of TWest on another thread which I can't locate.
I made the remark that it seemed too literal to make a direct comparison of the angled roofs with the mountains beyond.
Yet, reading Hildebrand, he locates a passage in An Autobiography where Wright does exactly that, comparing the mountains around Ocatillo to 30/60 triangles.
There is an accompanying photo.
Direct, literal translation, for sure.

[SDR]

I recall learning, when living in New England, that some hang washing in freezing weather. Apparently, under favorable conditions the fabrics will dry satisfactorily, perhaps even with a pleasant freshness to them ?

S