Esoteric Survey

I was in Tucson this past weekend and spotted a school with a series of buildings with thin-shell concrete roofs and breezeblock. 
Walter Douglas Elementary School was completed in 1961. John Shaver was the architect.  The structural engineer was Jim Foulds.
John Alden Shaver (1918-2010) graduated with a degree in architecture from Kansas State University in 1941. He then did post-graduate work at Stanford. In 1945 he joined his father, Charles W. Shaver, in his Salina, Kansas architecture firm.  John grew the practice into one the largest educational design firms in the United States.



There are six hyperbolic flower dome buildings on the campus.
Source: Google Maps




Montgomery Central High School in Cunningham, Tennessee was designed by John Shaver in 1970.
Source: Modern Seeker
I wonder how many kids  have been pushed into the water?  High School can be rough!
Source: Tupelo Quarterly
 In 1973 Shaver designed the world's first permanent tensioned membrane roofing system for the …

The Paolo Soleri and Mark Mills, Dome House (1949), in Cave Creek, Arizona is for sale.
The house is listed at only $300,000! The photos on Realtor.com were actually just lifted off a post I did in 2012. At that point I was only able to see it from a distance. They could have at least used the ones from when I was there in 2017. They're better and include interior shots...

It's an amazing piece of architecture, but it was designed by two young architects at the beginning of their careers using experimental materials. One big issue is the dome was originally designed to slide open and there was a shield to protect the interior from the blaring sun. That functionality is long gone, which makes for a torturous summer under the dome. 
Image: Julius Shulman,  © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)
Image: Julius Shulman,  © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)
The bedroom and main entrance is located opposite of the dome…

Solar House (1957) by Peter Lee


In 1954, a group of Arizona politicians, business leaders and Arizona State University joined forces with the Stanford Research Institute to form the Association for Applied Solar Energy (AFASE). The mission was to promote research and investment in solar energy. They held symposiums, exhibitions and sponsored architecture and design competitions. 

This included a 1957 competition called Living with the Sun. Architects submitted designs for a solar house that would be built in Phoenix. Concepts were submitted by Paolo Soleri, Victor Olgyay, Davis, Brody and Wisniewski, and Leland Lewis Evison. The prize-winning design was awarded toUniversity of Minnesota School of Architecture senior, Peter Lee. 

Image: ASU via A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War by Daniel A. Barber
Image: ASU via A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War by Daniel A. Barber
Lee was a student of Ralph Rapson, who was the De…

Medical office in Tucson by Scholer Sakellar and Fuller (1954)



Wild, right?

In 1949, Frank Lloyd Wright was Commissioned by the Southwest Christian Seminary to build a University on 8 acres in Phoenix, AZ. The design was complete and made public in 1950, but the bible college shut down and the project never started. Wright died in 1959, but his widow allowed the plans to be used for the First Christian Church. It was completed in 1972. The bell tower was built in 1978.


The moody monsoon skies.