05/27/2026
Today, some of our team and a few invited guests toured two buildings designed by Al Beadle.
We began at the Lisa Sette Gallery, located in what was originally the Catalina Office Building. In 2014, Lisa Sette relocated her art gallery to Midtown Phoenix, adapting the 1979 Beadle-designed building for exhibitions while preserving its modernist character.
Lisa Sette guided us through the current exhibition, ๐๐ณ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ, sharing insight into the works and curatorial ideas behind the show. One of the featured works seen here is by Vik Muniz, ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ (๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ฐ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ช), from his ๐๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฌ series. Muniz reimagines an 1837 anatomical illustration using a vast collection of discarded materials and found objects arranged on a studio floor, then photographs the composition from above, transforming debris into a detailed visual illusion that at first glance resembles the historic lithograph. A piece you can truly appreciate the opportunity to walk up close to.
Lisa then walked us across the parking lot to Beadleโs former architectural studio. In contrast to the surrounding mid-rise development, both buildings sit below street level and share a similar architectural language. The former studio now houses The Green Room Landscape Architecture.
Inside, The Green Room team shared drawings and photographs of recent projects, including an out-of-state โLiving Buildingโ project set to be featured in an upcoming documentary. We also saw the corner window where Beadle once positioned his desk, chosen for its view of the former Mountain Bell building he designed, which was demolished in 2009 after unsuccessful efforts to preserve or adapt it.
The Green Roomโs work blends desert-modern design, native Sonoran planting, and ecological minimalism into immersive outdoor environments, with a strong focus on water-wise, climate-responsive landscapes that extend architecture into the outdoors as a continuous experience. During the tour, we also handled material samples, including 3D-printed concrete.
๐๐ณ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ runs at the Lisa Sette Gallery through May 30th.