Some of his more well-known works include Fallingwater, Robie House and the Guggenheim which, coincidentally, are all available in the Lego Architecture collection (I love Legos AND architecture, so this discovery kind of blew my mind).
One of Frank's lesser-known works can be found at the Promenade shopping center in Scottsdale. There you can marvel at such timeless architectural icons as Sleep America, Hot Dog Stop, Old Navy and a towering 125-foot piece of mid century art designed by "the greatest American architect of all time".
I'm pretty sure that wasn't quite what he had in mind when he designed what is now called the Frank Lloyd Wright Spire... In fact, I'm positive that it wasn't what he had in mind because it was originally designed in 1957 to crown the top of FLW's Arizona State Capitol building. Of course it was decided that the building was far too avant garde and the whole project was shelved until 2004 when the spire alone was finally built and plopped down in the corner of a shopping center.
Well, even though it's not as grand as it was originally intended to be, it's still a pretty spectacular sight, and I had been wanting to get some night shots of the spire for a while. So a couple of months ago, my buddy Myke (check out his blog here) and I went on a little photogging excursion. And there you have it - a small piece of what could have been. I think what depresses me most is that there will never be a Lego FLW Arizona State Capitol building. How do you sleep at night, Arizona??
When you juxtapose the spire with the stores you mentioned, it makes it seem a little out of place. But it's also cool the spire is so accessible.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, seriously? I always thought the spire was the first emerging appendage of the robot lurking beneath Scottsdale. Snazzy!
ReplyDelete