Tag: Phoenix

Mezzanine Series, No. 1.

All of the photos in this series were taken from the mezzanine of the Arizona Biltmore Hotel lobby in Phoenix, Arizona. The structure, which opened in 1929, was designed by Albert Chase McArthur, though Frank Lloyd Wright was an on-site consulting architect, whose influence is mainly seen in the use of geometrically-patterned masonry block throughout the building. The block patterns are stylistic representations of palm fronds, and are used in interior and exterior curtain walls, pierced window screens, and even dense milk-glass light fixture blocks that join with the masonry. The Wright-inspired patterns have become icons of the hotel, and are used extensively throughout the grounds and in modern additions to the resort. The lobby space glows with light reflected from a darkly-lacquered gold leaf ceiling. The best word I can find to describe the effect is sumptuous. 

Mezzanine Series, No. 1.

All of the photos in this series were taken from the mezzanine of the Arizona Biltmore Hotel lobby in Phoenix, Arizona. The structure, which opened in 1929, was designed by Albert Chase McArthur, though Frank Lloyd Wright was an on-site consulting architect, whose influence is mainly seen in the use of geometrically-patterned masonry block throughout the building. The block patterns are stylistic representations of palm fronds, and are used in interior and exterior curtain walls, pierced window screens, and even dense milk-glass light fixture blocks that join with the masonry. The Wright-inspired patterns have become icons of the hotel, and are used extensively throughout the grounds and in modern additions to the resort. The lobby space glows with light reflected from a darkly-lacquered gold leaf ceiling. The best word I can find to describe the effect is sumptuous. 

Total war: I walked recently on the Desert Classic Trail in the South Mountain Preserve. Where normally I see harvester ants busily attending to their ant business, on this hike I watched with amazement as two colonies went to war. The path was covered with tiny rolling balls of ant combatants, moving too fast for me to really tell what was going on. It was only after I enlarged my photos that I could see their death grips and locked mandibles and their flailing legs. I think the ants must use olfactory cues to tell members of one colony from another, because I couldn’t see the difference. I wonder what grievances ants conceive or suffer of their neighbors, and what moves them to such violence and aggression. 

In the Pima Canyon unit of the South Mountain Preserve, Phoenix, Arizona.