Desert Dwelling

Architect: Joy Charbonneau

Various materials, 2004

Photos: Joy Charbonneau

In the Fall/Winter of 2003/04 Joy Charbonneau traveled to Taliesin in Scottsdale, AZ, on the Howarth-Wright Graduate Fellowship. Taliesin is the home of the Frank Lloyd Wright archives, as well as the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Part of the education at Taliesin allows students to design and build their own desert shelter to live in. Since the University of Toronto sends a student annually on this fellowship award, Joy decided to take the opportunity and build the home for future visiting Toronto architecture students.

According to Joy, “I intended to provide space conducive to researching and reflective thinking in the desert environment. To achieve this, I designed space around time and temperature, and location. The main interior space is surrounded by gabion walls that contextually reference the desert masonry at Taliesin. These porous masses allow air to filtrate through them while shielding heat. A deck cantilevers over the wash and terminates inside, providing seating in front of the fireplace.”

An elevated steel box penetrates the gabion wall to provide an elevated sleeping room. The Birch ply interior adds material warmth and its western orientation allows the evening sun to radiate inside for the cold nights. Two large windows open at one end and present a view of the city of Scottsdale below.

My role in the project working closely with Joy ranged from contractor to welder to machinist to cabinetmaker and nearly every building related profession in between. I was responsible for ensuring that the roof stayed up, the walls plumb, the doors opened and closed, the floor was level, the ladder sturdy and things worked as they should. Few projects are as satisfying as those that you can sleep in when you are done – this experience showed that good design and craftsmanship can create space that is truly a pleasure to inhabit.