7/26/2019 Soleri - Arcosanti
2/6
Call it Stockholm syndrome. I havent been letout of sight once
in the past four hours, and Imbeginning to sympathize with my
guide. Whosactually been nothing but nice to me, despitemy running
commentary. I notice some peoplehave air conditioning in their
windows, I say,barely containing an a-ha! One of the big ideashere
is to heat and cool each space naturally,isnt it? By way of solar
orientation, for exam-ple? With minimal impact on the
environment?
My guide, a young woman whos lived andworked here for over two
years, is unfazed.When someone chooses to have an
individualair-conditioning system, it tells us somethingabout the
design: if an apartment is too hot, wecant use that design any
more. While other de-signs work very well. Its all about
experiment-ing.
Well, this is a self-proclaimed experimentaltown. So youve won
this round, Arcosanti. Theimplication, it seems, is that an
architecturalexperiment is exempt from irrevocably failing,because
even a letdown is a chance to learn andbuild towards a success.
Word association: build. Construction site: another way to
de-scribe Arcosanti, this enduring project with anundetermined
deadline, whose end goal, like amirage, transforms and tiptoes
elsewhere as oneapproaches it. We are in high desert, after all.One
hour north of Phoenix, Arizona.
On paper, the current objective is Arcosanti5000, a home-grown
concrete artichoke ofmixed-use space, 25 acres of constructed pod
on4060 acres of land preserve. Its architect PaoloSoleri's lean
alternative to the trans-fatty waywe live now taking up too much
space, wastingtoo much time, abusing too many resources. But off
paper, off a long dirt road, realityis closer to, say, Arcosanti 65
or 75, the roughnumber of permanent residents on the day Ivisit.
You either stay for days or decades, myguide says. There are people
who have beenhere since 1970, she adds, mentioning the yearin which
Soleri, who turned 91 this year, rst putshovel to soil here.
The ambitions are big, the acres bought orleased (3200 of them
from the state of Arizona),but as for the city? Its not a city. As
Soleri will
later tell me, Its a fragment of what, someday,will likely be a
small town.And, no, its not a commune. A question
thats such a dont go there its one of the FAQson Arcosantis
website. Theres no spiritualguide here, no lifestyle you have to
follow,my guide says. Nobodys looking at the thingsyou buy or at
anything about your life. We justbelieve that, with architecture,
you can inuencethe way people live.
In apost factume-mail, I ask her, What willhappen to Arcosanti
without Soleri?
THREEHUNDREDMILLIONHERMITS.
THATS THEIDEA OF THE
AMERICANDREAM
Paolo Soleri
She replies: The Arcology concept is muchbigger than Soleri or
our modest Arcosantiproject. It is meant for humanity.
Arcology(noun): one of countless Soleri-isms, among the
architects most widely usedcoined terms. The concept fuses
architecturewith ecology, and its the idea that drives
Ar-cosanti.
Soleri has a habit of combining words,my guide continues.
Cosanticomes from theItalian words cosaand anti. Cosameans thingor
what, and you know what anti means. So,its like an anti-thing. We
shouldnt deneour lives by the thingsthat we have, but by
theculture, the education and the qualityof life.Arc(ology) +
Cosanti. Voil. Needless to say, there are long, elaborateglossaries
that accompany Soleris writings.
Before I meet the architect, my guide gives mea crash course in
Soleri speak. He often talksabout reformation versus
reformulation.Basically, he says that hybrid cars or solar panelson
a single-family home are just reformation were reforming our
behavior a little bit. Butwhat we need to do is totally reformulate
the waywe live, so that we dont rely on the automobileevery day, so
that we dont rely on getting pota-toes from Peru or apples from New
Zealand. Soleri isnt quoted often in articles writtenabout
Arcosanti, I say.
He doesnt grant that many interviews, andhe doesnt often say
things that make perfectsound bites. I could have gathered as much
from his verycomplex writings. My brieng continues. And if you say
Uto-pia, hell automatically say he hates the idea. Hesees his works
and philosophies as realistic. Henoticed problems like pollution,
resource scarcityand social isolation decades ago, before
peoplewere really talking about them, and he thoughtof Arcology as
a realisticway of helping.
But hes commonly referred to as a utopianplanner, I say.
Yes. A lot of people refer to him that way.Or as a dreamer. He
doesnt like that at all. I suppose I wouldnt either, if I had spent
thepast four decades realizing something commonly
thought of as unreal or even surreal anddefending it. Or is that
my Stockholm syndrometalking? Though no longer out pouring
concrete, andnot a permanent resident, Soleri still writes anddraws
every day and is very much a presence atArcosanti, primarily
through his weekly Schoolof Thought, a group discussion attended
bystudents of the Arcosanti workshop, visitors andsome residents. A
School of Thought discussionis scheduled for the day I visit, but
my guide andI have hours to kill before then before I meet
Soleri. I suppose you could saIve met him already, by way
oMalkovich-style stroll through
I know, I know. Arcosanti of Soleris ring neurons. Each
after completing a ve-week w
least 40 hours a week into builor administration work. Volunlive
for free, with discounts in temployees get what my guide wage and
pay a $40 co-use feeutilities, internet, et cetera. Excfor families
in which one adultstays home, but the rule is, evhas to be
contributing to the pthere would be no project wit
And there can be no me wWhy cant I go beyond the Vis
companied? It can be like liviwith people taking photos, shcover
Arcosanti grounds dailystrangers a year. For people liarchitectural
tourism is essenlease agreement. Our numbertion, my guide says.
Even for vsarily seeking education. Thatcan roll up in her RV
looking collective (they make windbelproceeds go back into the pro
shes hit with a dose of what
MODEL OF THE ARCOSANTI 5000 MASTER PLAN. I NGREY, THE STRUCTURES
ALREADY REALIZED.
LONG SECTIONMARK No ARCOSANTI USA PAOLO SOLERITOWN PLANNING
