Article: TAA's "House of the Future"

DavidC · Post by **DavidC** » Fri Jan 01, 2016 8:28 am

Did You Know: The House Of The Future

David

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Jan 01, 2016 10:50 am

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, and Charles Robert Schiffner, project architect, are mentioned the photo caption in the newspaper article. Was there a TAA in 1980 ? Presumably the original reporter missed that part of the credit . . . and the current writer as well. Or would this project have taken place outside the office, for some reason ?

SDR

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Fri Jan 01, 2016 1:08 pm

It was definitely done at Taliesin. Just after it was completed, Schiffner gave a slide lecture at the Pacific Design Center in WeHo. Along with him were Olga and his then-wife, Io, as well as others from T-West. It was priced at $750K, which, in 1980, was a lot of money to pay for a 2-bedroom house.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Jan 01, 2016 3:10 pm

I guess my question is, was there client work being done at Taliesin c. 1980 which was not a TAA product ?

SDR

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Sat Jan 02, 2016 5:45 pm

I believe with the exception of completion of FLlW projects '59-'70. and Legacy Projects, any work done at Taliesin was TAA work. In the mid to late 1990's there was a name change to Taliesin Architects. I was surprised to learn in the late 1990's that they did some rather "ordinary", read non Wrightian, tenant fit out work to keep billings up.

Paul Ringstrom · Post by **Paul Ringstrom** » Sat Jan 02, 2016 8:38 pm

Where exactly was this house built?

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sat Jan 02, 2016 8:43 pm

The article mentions 1980, I believe . . .

SDR

m.perrino · Post by **m.perrino** » Sun Jan 03, 2016 10:59 pm

I believe this house was designed and/or built in 1979/1980 and was originally valued at $1.2 million. The design was by Charles Schiffner under the auspices of TAA. The house has had several owners over the years. I toured it in 1982 and for its time it was on the cutting edge, with computers that allowed the owners to control the amount of light into the house. Today, I think it would be some what dated and give one kind of that "Jetsons" feel. It is still standing and the address is : 3713 Equestrian Trail, Phoenix.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 12:01 am

I assume those are solar cells proudly fronting the structure at a surprisingly steep pitch ? Are they photo-voltaic, or something else ?

SDR

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 11:16 am

This is a link I linked in another thread to some period photos and a floor plan of the house:

http://fllwfoundation.tumblr.com/post/3 ... associated

The other thread for this house:

http://savewright.org/wright_chat/viewt ... =ahwatukee

This house was an important one for me...I was in middle school at the time ('79-'80) and saw the House of the Future published in several different magazines of the period including Arizona Highways, Popular Science (I think), and some computer trade journals that my dad had from his work at HP. This was at the time watered down corporate modernism and early cheeky PoMo were all the rage in the few architectural journals I had seen, and I felt as if I had missed the boat with architecture...that Wrightian or Organic was gone and about to be forgotten. Then this house came along. Soon thereafter Fay Jones' Thorncrown Chapel was published just about everywhere. Seeing these and learning of Mac Wells' work, which had ties to Wright's concepts, gave me hope that all was not lost.

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 12:18 pm

SDR, the steep roof facing SSW is over the sitting room and the loft, a solar collector aimed at the low winter sun. In the 3rd photo posted by DRN, there is a 10-panel collector (by the equipment room) aimed for the summer sun. Very early use of solar panels.

The ironic part of this project is that it was intended to lower the cost of utilities. But the house was priced (in 1980's dollars) at $750K. One would have to use a lot of electricity to make up for that cost. I suspect the $1.2M cost noted above was either a later resale price or perhaps the $750K translated into today's dollars. No one was paying that kind of money 36 years ago.