Inspirational Places in Arizona – Part One | Arcosanti

There are two ways to experience Arcosanti.  One is from the intellectual perspective; truly understanding what it means to be an urban laboratory.  The second is emotionally; to feel the spirit of the place and the freedom of being a pioneer.Arcosanti – an urban laboratory? Paolo Soleri was ahead of his time when he created, from the ground up, a self reliant urban environment while the rest of the world was flourishing in big industry.  Complexity, miniaturization and duration were words Paolo used to grow his vision.  Complexity of the urban society; a mixed use establishment where people live, work, grow their own food and build their own environment from the ground up.  Miniaturization of the human footprint; frugality, taking only what you need, recycling and understanding that nothing is exclusively yours because everything belongs to everyone. Duration, having the strength and vision to grow into a fully functional living organism.

Arcosanti strives to minimize its footprint.  The builders exercised the use of local materials by quarrying basaltic rock from the Agua Fria River to use as aggregate in their concrete mix.  They then created large vaulted spaces from mounds of earth in order to cast the basaltic concrete mix, minimizing the use of industrial machines.  Greenhouses are in the process of being built along the cliff side below the super structure for two purposes.  The obvious reason is for growing food, second, as the greenhouse warms up, the heat inside the space rolls up the glass wall and through a heat duct which will provide underground heating for the residential units above.  In the valley bellow Arcosanti are farm fields and grazing lands as well as a small water dam, which collects water from the Agua Fria River.

Explaining the complexities and energy efficiency of Arcosanti simply does not compare to the emotional experience of living and working there.  The first thing you feel as you step out of your vehicle and into the open air is the huge expanse of silent space and sky.  There is a spiritual charge to the ground on which Arcosanti rests assuring the visitor that Paolo picked the perfect site on which to build.  Most of the intricate spaces which consist of residential units, indoor/outdoor assembly spaces and work shops are built of arched concrete and glass, setting the stage for the warm Arizona sun to take the lead.  In the winter, the concrete is a great insulator as it absorbs the sunlight during the day and releases it as heat in the evening.  During the hot summer months, the north facing clerestory glass allows defused light to enter the space while shielding the heat.  The experience of working hard all day to build something you are actually living in, eating a dinner that was cooked and grown by your peers and then laying down under the stars on top of a large warm concrete vault and hearing silence, is how one can truly understand Arcosanti.

With the recent passing of Paolo Soleri, the question remains: Where will Arcosanti go in the future years?  Was Paolo so far ahead of his time that society has still not caught up to his ideals? Or has it evolved into something new; a beautiful piece of architecture used to teach the young Architect and allow Paolo to live on through this education.