Portal:Architecture/Selected article/2007-21

Orion rises over Arcosanti Photo credit: Ischlueter

Paolo Soleri (June 21, 1919, Turin, Italy) is an Italian-American visionary architect with a life-long commitment to research and experimentation in design and town planning. He established Arcosanti and the educational Cosanti Foundation. Soleri is a distinguished lecturer in the College of Architecture at Arizona State University and a National Design Award recipient in 2006.

The Foundation's major project is Arcosanti, a planned community for 5,000 people designed by Soleri, under construction since 1970. Located near Cordes Junction, about 70 miles north of Phoenix and visible from Interstate I-17 in central Arizona, the project is based on Soleri's concept of "Arcology," architecture coherent with ecology. An arcology is a hyperdense city designed to maximize human interaction; maximize access to shared, cost-effective infrastructural services like water and sewage; minimize the use of energy, raw materials and land; reduce waste and environmental pollution; and allow interaction with the surrounding natural environment. Arcosanti is the prototype of the desert arcology. Since 1970, over 6000 people have participated in Arcosanti's construction.

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