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Local leaders near Phoenix are placing limits on where new homes can be built, with the goal of protecting long-term access to water. But there's a significant loophole. [...]
Policymakers may try again, and the governor has set up a task force on the issue. Ferris says the strength of Arizona's water law is that it links building decisions with water decisions. No other Western state requires cities to look a hundred years into the future.
— NPR
Permitting of new subdivision construction has been curtailed in the Phoenix area over water scarcity, though a loophole over multifamily construction has led to a recent boom there as developers are still free to open state taps when needed in search of a requisite 100-year groundwater... View full entry
Arizona has determined that there is not enough groundwater for all of the housing construction that has already been approved in the Phoenix area, and will stop developers from building some new subdivisions, a sign of looming trouble in the West and other places where overuse, drought and climate change are straining water supplies. — The New York Times
This decision, announced last Thursday, means that Arizona will no longer provide developers in some areas of the Phoenix region new permits to construct homes that rely on groundwater. Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, sources half of its water supply from groundwater. The announcement... View full entry
Following last week’s visit to Los Angeles-based Relativity Architects, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Phoenix, Arizona this week where we meet Studio Ma. Founded by Christiana Moss, Christopher Alt, and Dan Hoffman in 2003, the studio has developed a portfolio driven by... View full entry
This week's curated employment highlight from Archinect Jobs features a number of attractive architectural openings for job seekers in Arizona's state capital. Firms in Phoenix and Scottsdale are currently looking for Project Architects, BIM Specialists, Interior Designers, and Graphic Designers... View full entry
The private home considered to be Frank Lloyd Wright’s final residential design has hit the market in Arizona for $8.95 million, according to the Robb Report and several local real estate listings. The 3,095-square-foot Norman Lykes House, also known as the "Circular Sun House," was first... View full entry
Looking for the latest architectural career opportunities in Phoenix? Design services are in high demand in Arizona's state capital, now the fifth-most populous city in the United States, as the number of listings in the region on Archinect Jobs shows. For this week's curated job picks, we have... View full entry
Even among Frank Lloyd Wright’s scores of iconic properties, this sweeping spiral house still stands out. The Arizona home, which the celebrated architect built for his son David in the 1950s, just sold for $7.25 million.
The deal wraps up a two-year effort to sell the estate, which originally listed for $12.95 million in 2018 before a price cut last year brought the tag down to a buck shy of $10 million.
— Los Angeles Times
The David and Gladys Wright House saga previously on Archinect. Watch the video below for a fascinating tour of the Phoenix estate. Previously on Archinect: David and Gladys Wright House back on the market. Image via davidwrighthouse.org. View full entry
An Arizona house that was the last home designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright before his death sold on Wednesday for nearly $1.7m.
Out of nearly 20 bids at a public auction for the Norman Lykes House, the winning bid came from a man who lives out of state, Heritage Auctions told the Associated Press.
— The Guardian
Commissioned by Norman and Aimee Lykes, this Phoenix home known as the "Circular Sun House," was Frank Lloyd Wright's last residential design before his death in April 1959. The structure was completed nearly ten years later by Taliesin architect John Rattenbury. Image: Heritage Auctions In case... View full entry
Voters in Phoenix have soundly rejected a proposal that would have halted the expansion of the city’s light rail system—a proposition that had the backing of dark money linked to the notorious anti-transit Koch brothers. — Streetsblog
The rejected initiative would have terminated "all construction, development, extension, and expansion of” light rail lines in the city in order to redirect funds appropriated for transit expansion to more auto-centric infrastructure. The result represents a set back for the dark... View full entry
Proposition 105, a measure backed by a group called Building a Better Phoenix, would halt all future light rail expansions, directing already-earmarked tax dollars toward “other transportation improvements”—mostly road construction. Like a number of efforts to kill urban-rail plans around the U.S., the initiative to stop Phoenix’s transit development has ties to Americans for Prosperity, the advocacy group funded by David H. Koch and Charles Koch. — CityLab
CityLab's Laura Bliss delves into the multi-faceted and contentious back-and-forth effort to build new light rail infrastructure in Phoenix, Arizona, where issues of urban equity, dark political money, and changing transportation needs have rankled residents of all stripes. View full entry
Phoenix, Arizona–based developer Zach Rawling bought a Frank Lloyd Wright–designed house for $2.3 million in 2012, when its previous owner wanted to demolish the landmark. In 2017, Rawlings donated the David and Gladys Wright House to the Taliesin West School of Architecture, but in June of this year, Rawlings and Aaron Betsky, the architecture school dean, announced in a joint statement that the donation was being revoked due to fundraising concerns. — artforum.com
Image via davidwrighthouse.org.In their joint statement, Aaron Betsky and Zach Rawling wrote: The relationship between the School and the House is formally manifested in the David Wright House Collaborative Fund, a supporting organization of the Arizona Community Foundation. The principal focus of... View full entry
Phoenix and its surrounding area is known as the Valley of the Sun, and downtown Phoenix – which in 2017 overtook Philadelphia as America’s fifth-largest city – is easily walkable, with restaurants, bars and an evening buzz. But it is a modern shrine to towering concrete, and gives way to endless sprawl that stretches up to 35 miles away to places like Anthem. The area is still growing – and is dangerously overstretched, experts warn. — The Guardian
With cities in the Desert West, like Las Vegas and Phoenix, rapidly growing in size and population, water is becoming an evermore hot commodity; all while the source of that water, primarily the Colorado River, is becoming increasingly unreliable due to climate change. "And yet despite the federal... View full entry
Belmont Partners, an investment firm run by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, has bought 25,000 acres in Arizona to create a planned community reports KPNX. The large plot of land was bought for $80 million and is 45 minutes from Phoenix, within Maricopa County, in an area called the West Valley... View full entry
Last week marked what would have been Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150th birthday. Celebrating the occasion, Zach Rawling and his family donated his Wright-designed home in Phoenix to a foundation under the auspices of the Arizona Community Foundation to benefit the Frank Lloyd Wright School of... View full entry
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Maricopa County in Arizona had the highest annual population growth in 2016. Home to the city of Phoenix, the county gained 81,360 people, or 222 people per day. More than half were people who moved to the county from another area, while 25,428 were from... View full entry
