Paolo Soleri was born in 1919 on June 31, the Summer Equinox. His surname is based on Solaro ‘site’, ‘plot’, ‘meadow’, literally ‘land exposed to the sun.’
Receiving his education during WW2, he witnessed the near collapse of a civilization which had an indelible affect on him and his worldview. One effect of the chaos of his education pulled him away from his Catholic background - causing him to eventually question the existence of God - like many of his intellectual peers of the time and to see religious dogma as part of a "Grand Delusion" that kept humanity from reaching its full potential.
After getting a degree in architecture in Turino Polytechnic, he traveled to the USA to study under Frank Lloyd Wright, studying under his apprenticeship program for gifted architects at Tallesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona. The 18 months spent there was a formative time for Soleri. He was both heavily influenced by Wright's "organic" approach to architecture as well as the fellowship aspects of the program itself such as Wright's approach to Experiential Learning. This "learning by doing" approach to architecture and design later formed the basis for his own apprenticeship program at Cosanti in the 50s and later in 1970 with the formation of the Arcosanti Workshop Program. In terms of the architectural influences, Wright's blend of modernist architecture (with a naturalist twist) led to the coining of the term Organic Architecture, of which Soleri also was a major contributor, particularly with his unique design and aesthetic accomplishments at Cosanti.
After 18 months at Tallesin West, Soleri and Wright parted ways. Soleri was seen by Wright as a young upstart who was taking the limelight away from him. This became especially obvious when one of his early bridge designs shared the same book as Wright's work. There was also an issue of a difference of perspective about dress code that seemed to create friction between Soleri who preferred informal dress and Mrs Wright according to an article in the Phoenix New Times that featured Soleri's longtime confidante Roger Tomalty. The fact that Soleri took several cohorts with him when leaving Tallesin West including Mark Mills, only made the tension between mentor and protege more pronounced. Soleri later said it was more the fellowship of the students and the projects that collaborated on, rather than an actual apprenticeship under Wright of Tallesin, which he was influenced by as he created first Cosanti in 1955 and then Arcosanti in 1970.
He and Mills designed and built The Dome House in Cave Creek AZ for Lenora Wood. During the construction he fell in love with Lenora's daughter Colly. They later married and Soleri traveled to Italy for 3 years. During that time, he built the Ceramica Artistica Solimene cement factory and showroom in Solimene, Italy.
Returning to the US (and with some financial help from Colly's wife Lenora) they bought a few acres of land in Paradise Valley AZ and began to develop an apprenticeship program called Cosanti modeled in some respects on Tallesin West. This program became a success as it developed a reputation as a place for young artistic designed oriented people to be creative, innovative and find fellowship with other architectural noncomformists.
However as Soleri developed his Arcology Manifesto, he began to see the rapid growth and sprawling out of Phoenix as an impediment to building his prototype there. So a new location was sited about an hour north of Phoenix near Cordes Junction. This location was an old cattle ranch that he named Arcosanti and which he desired to be the world's first prototype Arcology. Soleri's currency as a countercultural leader and innovator reached its apex several years after the creation of Arcosanti in 1970 up until the time of the car fire in 1976. The development of his silt casting for buildings as well as the wind bells that financed them, also was refined during this time. The bell making ventures quickly established themselves at Arcosanti with aspes constructed for both bronze foundry casting and ceramic bell making. Building construction progressed at an impressive pace, especially considering the limited resources, second or third rate construction tools and equipment and rudimentary skills of the workers. Most of the Arcosanti Built Environment was constructed during this time.
As Soleri refined plans for the larger Arcology vision he published several books explaining Arcology. One of the most famous of these was "City in the Image of Man" which included detailed illustrations of various Arcology models suited for various uses populations and regions of the world.
As for Arcosanti the Arcology plans went through various iterations over the years finally culminating in the Arcosanti 5000 model in 2000.
Life at Arcosanti continued to coalesce and evolve so that a kind of Arcology Construction Site Counterculture emerged during its heydey during the mid to early 70s. During this time a mantra emerged that captured the idealization of Arcosanti as a work community of dedicated followers building the world's first prototype Arcology: Work Hard Play Hard Teilhard.
Paolo Soleri has provided with an ideological basis for an alternative exploration of the dimensions of human develop that extend beyond what people commonly call sprawl as well as the conventional notion of high density development. We have to carefully examine Soleri’s assumptions to ensure that they can be constructed towards an evolutionary social architecture that is critical not only of the world as it exists today, but of itself. This involves challenging many ofthe assumptions that Soleri makes in his eschatological hypothesis, as well as his understanding of Arcology itself.
Paolo Soleri died on April 2012 at 93.
In Sept of 2012, a memorial was planned that was organized by Cosanti Foundation President Jeff Stein and Arcosanti Alumni James Carnahan. This was not only a time of reflection of Paolo Soleri's accomplishments and to memorialize his life work but also part of an effort on the part of alumni and residents of Arcosanti to better organize themselves towards ensuring that work on the project progresses. One result of this effort was to begin to organize a planning committee for developing a strategic plan for the future development of Arcosanti.
References:
Paolo Soleri Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Soleri
Paolo Soleri Is the True Legend of the Arizona Architecture Scene. Kathleen Vanesian. May 30, 2013: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/paolo-soleri-is-the-true-legend-of-the-arizona-architecture-scene-6458684
Paolo Soleri, Architect of Counterculture, Dies at 93. Fred A Bernstein. APRIL 10, 2013: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/arts/paolo-soleri-architect-with-a-vision-dies-at-93.html