Students from the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesin West have designed and built a series of “Little Shelters” on the school’s Scottsdale, Arizona campus. This project was a collaborative effort between the students and AIXOPLUC, a design firm based in Tarragona, Spain. With a budget of just $2,000, the students completed the structures in twelve weeks, using locally sourced materials to create shelters designed to withstand the harsh desert conditions of the Sonoran Desert.

Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture School Students Build 'Survival Cabins' at Taliesin West

The project began with individual exercises where each student—Daniel Chapman, Mark-Thomas Cordova, Jaime Inostroza, Dylan Kessler, Pablo Moncayo, Natasha Vemulkonda, and Pierre Verbruggen—designed temporary shelters. However, due to the extreme climate, the group, under the guidance of instructor David Tapias, shifted to a collective design and build approach. The goal was to make the most of available on-site resources while purchasing affordable materials from nearby warehouses. this provided students with the flexibility to further explore their designs.

The shelter features minimalist aesthetics, such as corrugated metal butterfly roofs supported by metal frames and stone foundations. The design emphasizes the functional aspect of providing shelter while still maintaining an intriguing architectural form. The project led to the creation of two shared shelters and a gathering space, which will utilized and modified by future students, documenting their transformations on the Little Maps website.

This project, inspired by the Taliesin Shelters Program’s principle of “learning by doing,” highlights the students’ ability to balance budgetary constraints with the need to create habitable, functional spaces in the desert environment. The collaboration with AIXOPLUC enabled students to focus on both the practical and ecological aspects of architecture.