[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Frank-Lloyd-Wrights-Taliesin-West-in-Scottsdale-Arizona-on-December-9-2017.-Photo-by-Jim-SteinfeldtMichael-Ochs-ArchivesGetty-Images.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tQuestions have been raised over the maintenance of Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright\u2019s former home and studio, after a visitor was reportedly struck and killed on October 16 by an acrylic fragment that had been dislodged from the property by high winds.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Scottsdale Police Department has identified the deceased as Brazilian national Rog\u00e9rio Renato Mateucci, rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Paran\u00e1, who had traveled to the US for an event at Arizona State University. According to authorities, Mateucci was struck by a roof piece during a walking tour. Mateucci was pronounced dead at the scene.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe National Weather Service reported east winds of 22 miles per hour in the area of Scottsdale with gusts up to 32 miles per hour, on October 16, and people were warned that travel or safety may be disrupted as a result.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn a statement, Joe Spector, the chief executive of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, said that the foundation \u201cextends its deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the individual\u201d and that \u201cno further details will be shared out of respect for privacy and to allow officials to complete their work.\u201d Authorities are treating Mateucci\u2019s death as a weather-related accident, further investigating pending. <\/p>\n
\n\tWhether his death was preventable, however, has been questioned in the days since. <\/p>\n
\n\tVidal Martins, a colleague of Mateucci who identified his body from photographs, told The Arizona Public<\/em>, that \u201csecurity measures must be taken because it\u2019s a public place.\u201d He also shared a photo of a translucent panel lying among rocks and desert vegetation outside Taliesin West.<\/p>\n \n\tA former employee has also spoken out on the topic, telling local news channel AZ Family<\/em> on the condition of anonymity that they had witnessed two other objects breaking loose from the roof, as well as a similar panel coming loose during a monsoon over the summer. The source claimed that \u201cmoney [isn\u2019t] being funneled into the proper channels to ensure that the building is safe.\u201d The property has temporarily closed without a date for reopening in place yet. <\/p>\n ARTnews<\/em> has contacted the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation for comment.<\/p>\n \n\tWright built the studio and home in 1937 and lived there until his death in 1959. The property spans across 491 acres, and in 1986 opened as the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, before changing its name to The School of Architecture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/frank-lloyd-wright-taliesin-west-home-raises-scrutiny-1234803559\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Frank-Lloyd-Wrights-Taliesin-West-in-Scottsdale-Arizona-on-December-9-2017.-Photo-by-Jim-SteinfeldtMichael-Ochs-ArchivesGetty-Images.jpg?w=1024″] Questions have been raised over the maintenance of Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright\u2019s former home and studio, after a visitor was reportedly struck and killed on October 16 by an acrylic fragment that had been dislodged from the property by high winds. The Scottsdale Police Department has identified the deceased as Brazilian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2212939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2212939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2212939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2212939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2212939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}