Last week, I made a business trip to Phoenix to attend a 2-1/2 day IRMSummit conference that was held at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel. On arrival in Phoenix, the first thing to notice was the heat – 103 degrees in the late spring. A big change from the 70+ degree temperatures in Denver. During the time in Phoenix, the weather reached a record — not a high heat — but a low humidity of 2% with a temperature of 106 degrees!
The most striking feature of this prestigious hotel is the architecture. The buildings are constructed from square blocks, either plain or with a palm tree design. The design of the blocks represent the pattern made where palm fronts are cut from the trunk. In this image, I managed to find a palm tree adjacent to one of the hotel buildings that echoes the palm tree design of the hotel.
Biltmore Architecture And Palm
After checking in, the route to the room (in a cottage), was along a path that ran through putting greens! As the sun set, long shadows were cast along the manicured greens, that are captured in this image.
Long Shadows On Putting Green
Phoenix had some high altitude clouds that I captured in this image with the palm trees and fountain.
Palm Trees And Fountain
The water in the fountain was enticing in the late afternoon heat. Approaching the fountain, I selected a low shutter speed so that the motion of the water was not frozen in mid air.
Fountain, Up Close
In the hotel grounds was this sculpture. I was immediately enticed to capture the green patina.
Biltmore Sculpture
Later, as the sun was setting, I made this image of sunlit clouds in the skies above the main hotel building.
Biltmore Sunset
Driving up to the Biltmore, one is greeted by many Oleander bushes in the hotel grounds and lining the street approaching the hotel. Walking through the hotel grounds, I found this pink oleander bush tucked away in one of the corners of the buildings. The palm tree design of the blocks can be seen up close in this image.
Oleanders In The Corner
On entering the hotel, one is greeted by this indoor fountain with the characteristic palm design walls.
Indoor Fountain
Past the fountain is the lobby.
Biltmore Lobby
Some of the other features of the hotel include the Paradise Pool. This image was made after dark, to capture the pool lights reflecting off the water.
Swimming Pool Reflections
Finally, this is the patio located outside my room.
5102 Patio
Several times during the conference, the architecture of the hotel kept reminding me of Ayn Rand’s book, “The Fountainhead”, which tells the story of Howard Roark and his radical architectural designs.