Thirty miles from Phoenix, north on the 101, you will find Taliesin West, previously
the winter home of Frank Lloyd Wright, who died in 1959, and now home to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and the School of Architecture at Taliesin.

The Music Pavilion at Taliesin is in the master’s favorite color – a deep, burning red. The ceiling, a combination of acrylic and canvas panels treated with fire retardant, was originally used to filter the area’s strong daylight rays, but that exposure wrecked havoc on the canvas, which had to be replaced every two years.

Never one to miss a good opportunity, Gina Wicker, director of A&D markets for Sunbrella, offered to donate 450 yards of the company’s Sunbrella Plus Natural fabric to replace the blotched cotton canvas and restore the room to its historical character. The results have been dramatic.

The new ceiling furnished by Sunbrella has actually improved the acoustic quality of the space, the light is now even, and it moderates the intensity of the red linens, carpet and upholstery.

“This part of the Southwest is the most brutal environment for any textile,” says Wicker. “It’s one thing to test a product in a lab, but totally different to have it in a real-world application.”

For more information, please visit: www.metropolismag.com