Filipino Architect in Taliesin

Powerbooks would like to invite everyone to “FRANKLY SPEAKING:IT’S THE WRIGHT WAY: LOOKING OUTSIDE INSIDE AT FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S ARCHITECTURE”, a talk and signing session by Ms. Lira Luis, the first Filipino Architect of Frank Lloyd Wright ‘s Taliesin since 1937.Registration is FREE.

When: April 8,2006 4PM
Where: Powerbooks Greenbelt

Whether you are architects, parents, business people,environmentalists, college students, builders, computer renderers, and people in government, a group of community volunteers, a parent, or an entrepreneur, you will hear all about the lessons architect Lira Luis learned while living in the desert in a tent and shelter at influential architect Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin for three years and competing on international design competitions like Metropolis Magazine's NEXT Generation, as well as collaborating with the Pritzker-prize winning architect Frank Gehry's protege, Gordon Kipping. Lira talks about lessons that focus on Organic Architecture, sustainability, the built and natural environment,creativity in both the natural and digital world, interpersonal skills,pursuing dreams for yourself or your child, dealing with a global market/audience, plus much more.

About Architect Lira Luis

“…Particularly remarkable were her highly developed skills in computer aided drafting and rendering, which she quickly shared with her peers and teachers. Throughout the program, her independent design assignments were always presented digitally, utilizing the latest software programs she had learned. She studied all that was happening in contemporary architecture, and investigated the newest technologies and materials…” (excerpt from her Foreword in the audio book “FRANKly Speaking:It’s the WRIGHT Way)

- Susan Jacobs Lockhart, daughter of Frank Lloyd Wright clients and artist at the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

“Architects like Lira Luis are reshaping our thinking about architecture and its role in the 21st century. Their TECHNICAL SOPHISTICATION, ecological and social awareness, and their ability to embrace fruitful collaborations give one great hope for the future.”(excerpt from her testimonial letter to Luis’ winning entry, Portable Transient Shelter Pods)

- Susan S. Szenasy, Editor in Chief, Metropolis Magazine, USA

“If Frank Lloyd Wright is still alive, I believe he will be designing great buildings using the computer”, says architect Lira Luis, the first Filipino architect of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin since 1937. Lira graduated from the Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Tomas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture, Cum Laude. Her dream and love for architecture brought her to Taliesin West---the winter home and studio of Frank Lloyd Wright, where she received her Master of Architecture degree. Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the most influential architects, known for designing landmark buildings like the Guggenheim in New York, Fallingwater in Pensylvannia, Johnson Wax Building in Wisconsin, etc.


When she left for the USA in 1997 to enter the program at the legendary architect’s Taliesin, she brought with her a unique set of skills among them sophisticated knowledge of computer software like Autocad. Over the years she had developed skills in other software programs like Form-Z, 3D Studio Max, ArchiCAD and Revit. In her winning entry for Metropolis Magazine’s NEXT Generation design competition, the Portable Transient Shelter Pods, she utilized parametric modeling, which is an approach to CAD that leaves the traditional 2-dimensional approach. It represents a 3-dimensional approach to CAD. Her parametric modeling skills were honed when she worked as a project manager at the architecture firm Orcutt Winslow Partnership in Arizona. This firm is in the mainstream of the parametric modeling world, having been awarded the 2005 Building Information Model Awards by the American Institute of Architects. Lira is one of the few architects who is proficient in using 2 competing softwares---Autodesk’s Autocad (including Architectural Desktop and Revit), and Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD.

Lira has nearly thirteen years of architectural experience that included hands-on-learning and construction while living in tents and shelters in the Sonoran deserts of Arizona in Taliesin West. These shelters have no light, electricity, water or phones. They are built by the apprentices to be used as learning tools about the natural and built environment.

In her proactive professional life, which had already moved her from being the Director of the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA)Associates Committee, to collaborating with Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry’s protégé, Gordon Kipping when she won a place in the Mentoring Beyond IDP competition by the Emerging New York Architects in 2005. She is also a public speaker, having been invited to speak at the AIA-Arizona, University of Santo Tomas, University of the Philippines, Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, and most recently, at the Center for Architecture in Manhattan. She manages to juggle all these activities while running an architectural firm called Atelier Lira Luis,LLC---with 3 offices located in Phoenix, New York, and Manila, as well as extend help to the homeless and disaster victims via the non-profit organization, Progressive Habitats Foundation. Lira, along with other friends from Taliesin, is currently being tapped to be engaged at the forefront in the rebuilding efforts for the flood-devasted Mississippi, USA, that includes housing, master planning, and mixed-use development.

Her work has been featured in leading publications in the USA like Architectural Record Magazine, Metropolis Magazine, The Arizona Republic, Phoenix Magazine, as well as exhibited at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art in Arizona, AIA-AZ Gallery, the Center for Architecture Gallery in New York, and the South Eastern Center for Contemporary Art. She appeared in shows like National Public Radio (NPR), AZfamily (Channel 3), and Discovery Channel’s Travel Daily.


James J. Abuan
Marketing Assistant
Powerbooks