concrete
with the passing this week of visionary architect Paolo Soleri, I've been thinking about the time I spent at his experimental desert settlement, Arcosanti, last November while writing a piece for AnOther
one morning, up early to take photos with the rising sun hitting the concrete, I wandered through the empty city – home to 60 or so people but deserted at that hour, except for a bobcat which padded noiselessly past. inside the silent, sunlit rooms and offices, Soleri's visions of soaring arcologies hung on the walls and filled endless, carefully preserved scrolls. in one room, an architectural model of one of his hyperstructures caught the morning light, its monumental scale lit up over the miniature landscape
Soleri leaves a rich legacy of dreams, plans, ideas and ideals at Arcosanti, along with a functioning urban oasis in the desert which may yet bloom into something bigger. it's an incredible place, especially because it exists in concrete form and not just on paper, and I'd urge to you to visit if you get the chance
the coming years could see the realisation of some of Soleri's dreams for the project – and I can think of no better tribute. here is ours, a record of that quiet morning in the desert
