Totally Integrated Color Schemes
The Lykes' Residence in Phoenix with its curved desert-rose-tinted concrete block walls emerges from a steep, sloped hill of the Sonoran desert.
Like SAMARA, the wood is Philippine mahogany. As a master artist, Wright brushes the hues of the desert onto the house to match it perfectly to the pink sands of the engulfing desert.
The gate of still another Wright house in Phoenix shows the same characteristic glow of the desert sand. Somehow in the bright November sky, the branches of trees native to the Sonoran region reflect the distinctive desert palette of beige, sand and ivory.
The success of Wright's designs in the Southwest rests on his understanding of construction materials indigenous to a building site and the way he used native rose colors to make his structures appear to emerge from the Earth.
By designing his buildings and gates to match the colors of the desert palette, Wright forces us to see his work in a totally integrated, complete and uniform way.
The Lykes' house is fully immersed in the desert floor and appears to arise from the land itself. In Wright's designs, vegetation with their matching colors becomes inseparable from his hidden houses, entrance gates and driveways.