City by Design: Phoenix: An Architectural Perspective of the Greater Phoenix Valley (City By Design series)

FoREWORD by Grady Gammage Jr. , Gammage & Burnham

Having the some nome as a prominent landmark building probably distorts my view of the importance of architecture to quality of life. But buildings ore where we live, and undeniably they shape our aggregate sense of self.

In Phoenix. we ore blessed with on extraordinary natural setting In which to place a city: stunning, unique, and a little scary, full of prickly plants and venomous creatures. That natural setting challenges architects and builders in many ways. Shelter here needs to protect against heot and light, not cold and wet as with the older ports of the U.S. Without lush forests and big trees to envelop Individual buildings, they tend to stand out and remain visible In the landscape.

The mythology of the West and the lost frontier In the lower 48 also has a history of spawning eccentric visions of city form. Distinctly different visions, Fronk Lloyd Wright's Broodocre City-the ultimate outomoblle-