Soleri was born in 1919 in Turin, Italy. In 1946 he obtained a degree in architecture from the Politecnico di Torino. He then went to the United States where he spent a year and a half doing a fellowship with Frank Lloyd Wright in Taliesin West, Arizona and Taliesin Spring Green, Wisconsin. Shortly after Soleri received international recognition for a bridge design that was on display at the MoMA. After returning to Italy in the 1950’s to design a ceramics factory, he became familiar with several ceramic processes, which “led to his award-winning designs of ceramic and bronze windbells and siltcast architectural structures” (Wikipedia). By 1956 Soleri had returned to the United States, settling in Scottsdale, Arizona, with his wife. There the two “made a life-long commitment to research and experimentation in urban planning, and established the Cosanti Foundation” (Wikipedia). The foundation’s most famous project is Arcosanti, a planned community that Soleri designed for 5,000 people, and which has been under construction since the 1970s. Arcosanti is located about 70 miles outside of Phoenix, and according to Wikipedia it is based on Soleri’s concept of ‘Arcology’ : architecture that is coherent with ecology. Wikipedia states: “An arcology is a hyperdense city designed to maximize human interaction; maximize access to shared, cost-effective infrastructural services like water and sewage; minimize the use of energy, raw materials and land; reduce waste and environmental pollution; and allow interaction with the surrounding natural environment. Arcosanti is the prototype of the desert arcology.” Arcosanti is still an ongoing project, and as of 2005 it remains on 3% complete.
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