Monthly Update
A Peek At "796" :: OA+D's New Archival Processing Center
February brings news that the OA+D Archives has achieved an important milestone in our 2025 goal of consolidating ALL of its collections in our facilities in Chandler, Arizona.
Our new Archival Processing Center, located at 796 N. Arizona Ave. is now open and operating with almost 2000 square feet of secure, environmentally controlled space. "796" (as we affectionately refer to it) allows us the room to bring all of our current collections that were housed in multiple locations under one roof. Numerous storage racks, multiple banks of flat files, and open space for scanning, flattening, and processing make it a dramatic improvement for our volunteer team.
Our goal is to get all remaining storage sites moved into 796 in the coming months, which will streamline our costs and help make the job of processing materials more efficient, and help us serve scholars and the public even more effectively.
We're looking forward to sharing the space with everyone interested in seeing it, but we want to remind you all that these exciting and important efforts require your ongoing financial support to help make them successful.
Please consider making a tax-deductible financial gift so that we can continue the many important and wonderful ways in which the OA+D Archives works towards preserving the legacy of Organic Architecture and Design.
Please follow THIS LINK to support our efforts and thanks as always for your ongoing generosity!
OA+D NEWS & EVENTS
From The Archives :: Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium Project Design Finds New Home
The Arizona Architecture Foundation’s Architectural Archives Committee made swift work of connecting Dr. Marti Muñoz with Organic Architecture + Design Archives, Inc. (OA+D). Her inquiry regarding a set of project designs for the Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium enabled a transfer for future preservation.
OA+D representatives contacted Dr. Muñoz and met with her to complete the transfer. OA+D learned the project designs were related to her husband, Raymond D. DelZotto’s work as a licensed architect, USGBC LEED Accredited Professional, and certified Project Management Professional.
Taliesin Architects (TA), successor firm of Frank Lloyd Wright, oversaw the construction of Gammage Auditorium after Wright’s death. As the official stewards of the TA Collection, the Gammage designs add to OA+D’s holdings and help fill-in missing project files removed prior to the Collection's transfer.
DelZotto fell in love with desert landscape and moved to Arizona in the 1980’s. Here he formed his own company where his work spanned Arizona and included numerous educational projects from early childhood campuses to university buildings. In the latter endeavor, his project work on Gammage Auditorium led to use of the Gammage Auditorium designs. Ray DelZotto passed away in 2021.
Thanks to Dr. Marti Muñoz for donating project drawings for the Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium. She collaborated with her husband on endeavors in higher education and resides at the home he designed for them at the base of the Superstition Mountains. There she honors his vision of maintaining the natural environment and providing a welcoming haven for wildlife.
The mission of the Architectural Archives Committee is to identify, locate, and place hand drawn architectural collections of significant architects and works located in Arizona. The Arizona Architecture Foundation (AAF) maintains a growing list of Archives & Collections on their website, www.arizonaarchitecturefoundation.org, to facilitate research, referral, and preservation.
The mission of OA+D is to honor the past, facilitate the present, and encourage the future of creative organic architecture and design. A shared passion for furthering education, appreciation, and preservation of archival materials like Gammage designs drives OA+D’s work.
If you have archival materials related to Frank Lloyd Wright, the Taliesin Fellowship, or any other organic architectural or design items that you're interested in donating for our growing collections, please let us know by contacting us at info@oadarchives.org.
New Publications Update
Two new exciting OA+D publications are currently in the works and will soon be released!
The first will be an exciting new monograph on the life and work of Frank Lloyd Wright Apprentice and Taliesin Fellow, David Elgin Dodge. The book will be almost 200 pages, full color, hardcover with dust jacket and filled with never-before-published drawings and photos of David's remarkable creative designs. It is nearing the final stages of production, will then be off to the printer, and then available for all to enjoy this spring.
Concurrently in development is the Spring 2025 issue of the Journal of Organic Architecture + Design. Volume 13 Number 1 will feature the remarkable story behind Eugene Masselink's mural for the Flying Dutchman Bar, formerly of Spring Green, WI. The mural's history is filled with myth and legend—as is the circumstances of how it survived and was salvaged from the ashes of the fire-damaged bar. Guest author Steve Sikora guides us through this history and shares the present day efforts of OA+D to preserve the surviving historical mural and raise funds to bring its former glory back for future generations to enjoy.
Pre-orders for both titles will be announced soon. So be sure to watch upcoming e-newsletters for the details and renew (or join) OA+D as a subscriber HERE to never miss an issue of the Journal of Organic Architecture + Design.