On June 14, Oasis, Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs for the Arizona Capitol, went on display at the Arizona Capitol Museum. Located on the first floor of the Museum just across from the Arizona Capitol Museum Store, the exhibit contains a model of the design along with sketches, architectural renderings and story boards.

The three-dimensional Oasis scale model shows what Wright envisioned for the Arizona Capitol. A story board says that Wright heard a rumor of plans for the renovation of the Arizona State Capitol in 1957. The board says, “Concerns about conservation, energy, space, environment, and climate were in the forefront of Wright’s mind as he designed the building.”

Ultimately, budgetary problems kept any plans for improvements from happening until 1974, and Wright’s design never became a reality.

The exhibit displays an early sketch of Wright’s design. On other walls, colored architectural renderings of Oasis depict how the project would look with aerial and ground views from different vantage points.

Two benches at one end of the exhibit allow visitors to sit and enjoy the exhibit or to look at two different books on Wright’s work. Oasis remains as a long-term exhibit at the Arizona State Capitol Museum.

Photos by Janice Semmel