Experimental urban laboratory
Introduction
Arcosanti is an experimental city of the Cosanti foundation founded by the architect Paolo Soleri and his wife Colly. It is an urban laboratory that began to be built in 1970 under the foundations of Arcology in the Arizona desert.
It is currently made up of 13 structures, including a laboratory, an amphitheater, a foundry, a swimming pool and the Colly Soleri music center.
Paolo and his wife began construction of Arcosanti in 1970, to demonstrate how urban conditions could be improved while minimizing the destructive impact on the Earth. Paolo taught and influenced generations of architects and urban designers who studied and worked with him to build this city.
Overview
Arcosanti's goal is to explore the concept of arcology, which combines architecture and ecology. The project has the goals of combining social interaction and accessibility in an urban environment with strong environmental principles, such as minimal resource use and access to the natural environment.[1] The project has been building an experimental city on 25 acres (10 hectares) of a 4,060-acre (1,640 ha) land reserve.
The land was demarcated in 1970 to begin construction, which has continued at varying rates to the present. The most recently completed construction was finished in 1989.[2] The population has tended to range between 50 and 150 people, many of them students and volunteers.
Fundamentally, the goal has been for Arcosanti to be home to some 5,000 people.[3] 13 major structures have been built on the site so far, some several stories high. A master plan, designed in 2001, envisions a massive complex, called "Arcosanti 5000," that would dwarf the current buildings.
Many features are particular to the design and construction of Arcosanti. For example, embedded concrete panels are cast into a silt bed acquired from a surrounding area, giving the concrete a unique texture and color and helping it blend into the landscape. Many panels were cast with embedded art. Most buildings face south to capture the light and heat of the sun; The design of the roofs allows the maximum amount of sunlight in winter and the minimum in summer. The structure built to house the bronze foundry is built in the shape of an apse, quarter sphere or semi-dome. The design of all buildings is intricate and organic, rather than the typical grid of most US cities, with the goals of maximum accessibility to all elements, a combination of increased social interaction and bonding, and maintaining residents' privacy.