One Man's Vision for the Future

Back in October of last year, I spent a weekend in northern Arizona and on the way back home to Phoenix, I stopped at Arcosanti.  I was too late for the tour but was able to walk around a bit and visit the main building.  Arcosanti was the vision of Paolo Soleri as an alternative to urban sprawl and self sufficiency.

It is called an urban laboratory focused on innovative design, community and environmental accountability.  Soleri's vision was a compact city design where architecture meets Ecology.  He called it Arcology.

The facility is located 65 miles north of Phoenix and 80 miles south of Flagstaff Arizona off of Interstate 17.  To visit you have to follow an unpaved and rather rough road for about a mile and a half.  Building began in 1970 and continues today.  It is composed of various mixed-use buildings and public spaces.

Inside the main building was a display of some of the brass and clay wind bells that have made Soleri famous all over the world.

Over 7,000 volunteers have worked on the construction of Arcosanti in the past 50 years of its existence.  When I first visited some 40 years ago, there was almost nothing there.  Now there are what appears to be five separate buildings.  I will have to go back another time and arrive early enough to take the tour.  I'm sure it would be fascinating.