Creating Tomorrow - Design with the Desert: Conservation and Sustainable Development - page 468

(a)

(b) (c)

FIGURE 27.1
(a,b) Univision Studio in Phoenix. Rammed earth, tensile fabric, and weathering metals. (c) Univision Studio
at night.

contradiction that has been experienced by all desert people. It is the need to be sheltered
from the scorching heat of the sun while celebrating the gift of living openly under the sky.
If we were living in the eastern states, we might take pride in the number of buildings
our community had on the National Historic Register. That is not who we are. Instead, we
have more national parks, national monuments, and historic sites than any other region. It
is all part of our reason to feel our own special connection with the land.
To the extent that we value authenticity, our future success hinges on a kind of personal
rebirth—a sense of belonging to the desert in a way that commits us to a stewardship
beyond the rights of ownership. We may have the constitutional right to do as we please,
but we need to respond to a higher purpose than anything allowed by codes or ordi-
nances. Few places on earth are as blessed by nature as the Southwestern deserts. We need
to get to the point where a felt sense of that heritage enriches everything we are and do.

27.1.2 Indigenous Design

Growing out of the first, the second challenge is to nurture an indigenous approach to
design until it becomes the dominant character of our structures and landscape. Just a few