simon de aguero: brittlebush

‘brittlebush’ by simón de agüero all images courtesy simón de agüero

simón de agüero, a recent graduate of the frank lloyd wright school of architecture in taliesin, arizona, has sent us images of his design-build project, ‘brittlebush’. the design is an experimental desert dwelling for winter residents of the area. 

featuring an open-air living space, the shelter largely incorporates tensile fabric structures into its design to provide a tent-like covering. the masts and anchors on the structure can adaptively accommodate a 150 square-foot roof membrane of either shade-cloth or vinyl. the living space is circumscribed with a jagged, three-inch rammed-earth wall framed in steel. a raised bed platform for one is situated above a fireplace for passive winter heating.

the majority of the material used for ‘brittlebush’ were recovered or found on site: 90% of the steel was salvaged from the school scrap yard, all of the wood used for the formwork was waste from a local renovation project, and the earth used for the walls was from on-site.