Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 27.3
Streetscape scene outside the Swaback Partners Studio in Scottsdale, Arizona.
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 27.4
Skyfire Residence. (a) Nightscene. (b) From the outside looking in.
The Southwest already excels in its exploration of a regional architecture that belongs
here and no place else. What is needed is to have the understanding represented by our
best work become more widespread. From the earliest Hohokam and Anasazi cultures
to the finest work of the present, the desert has produced an architecture that radiates a
space-loving sense of mystery and creativity (Figure 27.4).
No amount of worldly sophistication can ever equal the unique character of the desert.
We may be exhilarated by high-rise buildings, stadiums, and other symbols of urban tri-
umphs, but unless they reflect an indigenous sense of belonging, all such additions can
ever hope to accomplish is to diminish our desert settlements by making them more and
more like every place else. We may need to be reminded that those of us who call home,
the Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahuan, and Great Basin Deserts, are all living in the same eco-
system. Whether we live downtown in a mid-rise apartment or on a ranch at the end of a
dusty road, we are all inhabitants of the desert.
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