Xing
23-09-2007, 23:57
Building:
Cosanti
Architect:
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.
Early life
Soleri was awarded his "laurea" (M.Sc. degree) with highest honors in architecture from the Politecnico di Torino in 1946. He visited the United States in 1947 and spent a year and a half in fellowship with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West in Arizona, and at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin. During this time, he gained international recognition for a bridge design displayed at the Museum of Modern Art.
Soleri returned to Italy in 1950 where he was commissioned to build a large ceramics factory, "Ceramica Artistica Solimene." The processes he became familiar with in the ceramics industry led to his award-winning designs of ceramic and bronze windbells and siltcast architectural structures. For over 30 years, the proceeds from the windbells have provided funds for construction to test his theoretical work.
In 1956 he settled in Scottsdale, Arizona, with his late wife, Colly, and their two daughters. Dr. and Mrs. Soleri made a life-long commitment to research and experimentation in urban planning, establishing the Cosanti Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation. Soleri's philosophy and works have been strongly influenced by the Jesuit paleontologist and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
Writings
He has written six books and numerous essays and monographs. When he is not traveling on the international lecture circuit, Soleri divides his time between Cosanti, the original site for his research located in Scottsdale, and Arcosanti.
Concept:
Cosanti is the gallery, studio and residence of Italian-American architect Paolo Soleri, located in Paradise Valley, Arizona and open to the public, featuring terraced landscaping with experimental earth-formed concrete structures.
Soleri is best known for Arcosanti, the prototype arcology community founded in the high desert in 1970, approximately 70 miles north of Phoenix, Arizona, a site which is still relatively remote. Cosanti is where Soleri and his late wife Colly Soleri had established their residence in metropolitan Phoenix several years before, in 1956, on a site just a few miles away from Taliesin West (where Soleri studied), and which has since been surrounded by suburban multi-million dollar luxury houses. Cosanti has been designated as an Arizona historic site.
The words Cosanti, Arcosanti, and arcology, were invented by Paolo. Arcology is a word Paolo created by combining the words "architecture" and "ecology". Cosanti is a word created by fusing together two Italian words: "cosa" meaning things, and "anti" meaning before. Arcosanti was created by combining the words "arcology" and "Cosanti".
Cosanti includes a series of structures including the original "Earth House" which is partially underground, student dorms, outdoor studios, performance space, a swimming pool, a gift shop, and Soleri's residence, all amidst courtyards, terraces, and garden paths, and carefully desert-landscaped.
The general orientation of the buildings is important. Many are situated below ground level and surrounded by mounds of earth. This acts as natural insulation to help moderate interior temperatures year round. Soleri also designed south-facing apses (partial domes) situated as passive energy collectors, accepting the light and heat of the lower winter sun, and creating shade from the higher summer sun. Other structures such as the pool have southern exposures to maximize the warmth of the winter sun.
CosantiThe buildings at Cosanti are not intended as examples of the arcology concept, but many of its principles are at work here. Most of these structures were built using the earth casting method or one of Soleri’s variations on the technique. Concrete was poured over pre-shaped earthen molds, and the earth excavated once the concrete solidified. The result is innovative, biomorphic and environmentally responsible. A modified earth casting technique is also used to craft the bronze and ceramic wind-bells produced here and at Arcosanti. The dramatic bronze casting process can be viewed weekday mornings at both Cosanti’s foundry and Arcosanti's foundry.
Access:
Free Admission
Mon.-Sat. 9AM-5PM & Sun. 11AM-5PM,
800-752-3187
http://www.cosanti.com/
Location:
Phoenix,AZ,US
Cosanti Originals
6433 E Doubletree Ranch Rd
Paradise Valley, AZ 85253
Getting there:
See map.
Cosanti
Architect:
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.
Early life
Soleri was awarded his "laurea" (M.Sc. degree) with highest honors in architecture from the Politecnico di Torino in 1946. He visited the United States in 1947 and spent a year and a half in fellowship with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West in Arizona, and at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin. During this time, he gained international recognition for a bridge design displayed at the Museum of Modern Art.
Soleri returned to Italy in 1950 where he was commissioned to build a large ceramics factory, "Ceramica Artistica Solimene." The processes he became familiar with in the ceramics industry led to his award-winning designs of ceramic and bronze windbells and siltcast architectural structures. For over 30 years, the proceeds from the windbells have provided funds for construction to test his theoretical work.
In 1956 he settled in Scottsdale, Arizona, with his late wife, Colly, and their two daughters. Dr. and Mrs. Soleri made a life-long commitment to research and experimentation in urban planning, establishing the Cosanti Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation. Soleri's philosophy and works have been strongly influenced by the Jesuit paleontologist and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
Writings
He has written six books and numerous essays and monographs. When he is not traveling on the international lecture circuit, Soleri divides his time between Cosanti, the original site for his research located in Scottsdale, and Arcosanti.
Concept:
Cosanti is the gallery, studio and residence of Italian-American architect Paolo Soleri, located in Paradise Valley, Arizona and open to the public, featuring terraced landscaping with experimental earth-formed concrete structures.
Soleri is best known for Arcosanti, the prototype arcology community founded in the high desert in 1970, approximately 70 miles north of Phoenix, Arizona, a site which is still relatively remote. Cosanti is where Soleri and his late wife Colly Soleri had established their residence in metropolitan Phoenix several years before, in 1956, on a site just a few miles away from Taliesin West (where Soleri studied), and which has since been surrounded by suburban multi-million dollar luxury houses. Cosanti has been designated as an Arizona historic site.
The words Cosanti, Arcosanti, and arcology, were invented by Paolo. Arcology is a word Paolo created by combining the words "architecture" and "ecology". Cosanti is a word created by fusing together two Italian words: "cosa" meaning things, and "anti" meaning before. Arcosanti was created by combining the words "arcology" and "Cosanti".
Cosanti includes a series of structures including the original "Earth House" which is partially underground, student dorms, outdoor studios, performance space, a swimming pool, a gift shop, and Soleri's residence, all amidst courtyards, terraces, and garden paths, and carefully desert-landscaped.
The general orientation of the buildings is important. Many are situated below ground level and surrounded by mounds of earth. This acts as natural insulation to help moderate interior temperatures year round. Soleri also designed south-facing apses (partial domes) situated as passive energy collectors, accepting the light and heat of the lower winter sun, and creating shade from the higher summer sun. Other structures such as the pool have southern exposures to maximize the warmth of the winter sun.
CosantiThe buildings at Cosanti are not intended as examples of the arcology concept, but many of its principles are at work here. Most of these structures were built using the earth casting method or one of Soleri’s variations on the technique. Concrete was poured over pre-shaped earthen molds, and the earth excavated once the concrete solidified. The result is innovative, biomorphic and environmentally responsible. A modified earth casting technique is also used to craft the bronze and ceramic wind-bells produced here and at Arcosanti. The dramatic bronze casting process can be viewed weekday mornings at both Cosanti’s foundry and Arcosanti's foundry.
Access:
Free Admission
Mon.-Sat. 9AM-5PM & Sun. 11AM-5PM,
800-752-3187
http://www.cosanti.com/
Location:
Phoenix,AZ,US
Cosanti Originals
6433 E Doubletree Ranch Rd
Paradise Valley, AZ 85253
Getting there:
See map.