Hansjörg Göritz  Studio

September 2014

New Mexico -

The Desert, The Mesa and The Temenos

Going to the desert means coming to a place that causes essential designs. Putting us in our place, of having no choice than matching elementary requirements straight, does not leave much room for whim. The presence of the indigenous still makes strong impressions, and timeless sky city pueblos on mesas carry on in the compounds and some contemporary master pieces. Hansjörg Göritz lifetime fascination for the notion of a hortus conclusus gets renewed with this omni presence of austere adobe volumes and ideal garden oases, as walled-in cutouts from the universe of a non-hostile environment. Countless historic variations of the temenos wall became self-evident derivates in the timeless works of O'Keeffe, Predock, and Legorreta. The students that Hansjörg Göritz exposed to this cultural and climate context may one day leave their marks based upon such impressions of authenticity.