Italian greatly influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright
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| Paolo Soleri envisaged buildings in harmony with their environment |
Soleri is largely remembered for the Arcosanti project, an
experiment in urban design in the Arizona desert that was like no other town on
the planet, a unique fusion of architecture and ecology.
Originally conceived as providing a completely
self-sufficient urban living space for 5,000 people when it began in 1970, only
about five per cent of the proposed development was ever completed.
At its peak, Arcosanti’s population barely exceeded 200 yet
the buildings Soleri erected in accordance with his vision are still there, rising
from the desert as an assortment of concrete blocks, domes and soaring vaults,
resembling a cross between the remains of some ancient civilisation and a set
from Star Wars.
It has never been abandoned, however, and although Soleri
died in 2013 the project is still home to between 50 and 100
of his most ardent disciples, still seeking to live as Soleri envisaged.
Although Soleri grew up in Italy and acquired his formal
training in architecture and design at the Politecnico di Torino, where he
obtained his master’s degree, it was a visit to the United States in 1946 that
had the most profound influence on his life.
It was there that he met Frank Lloyd Wright, whose views on what
he called organic architecture, in which buildings were designed in harmony
with their environment, would form the basis of Soleri’s philosophy.
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| Soleri's ceramics factory in Vietri sul Mare |
It was not long, however, before he returned to the United
States and to Scottsdale, Arizona, close to Wright’s concept home, Taliesen
West, which on a smaller scale in that it was home also to a commune of Wright’s
disciples could be seen as a forerunner of Arcosanti.
Soleri’s admiration for Wright waned over the latter’s
Broadacre City project, an essentially low-rise development that went against
the Italian’s belief that the urban sprawls that proliferated across America
were a wasteful and inefficient use of land.
Soleri believed that in future man needed to build upwards rather than
outwards.
In 1956, he settled in Scottsdale with his American-born
wife Colly and established the Cosanti Foundation. He built trial dwellings using a process he
called "earthcasting", in which mounds of earth were built, concrete was
poured over the top to create a shell, and the earth then dug away from beneath.
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| Soleri in Arizona in the early days of the Arcosanti project |
In Vietri he had learned the techniques of ceramics and
bronze casting, which he put to use in Arconsanti by setting up a small factory
producing wind bells, which were sold to provide the town with an income.
Soleri blamed himself for Arconsanti’s failure to grow much
beyond its conceptual beginnings, admitting that he did not do enough to
promote his work and persuade others to believe in the wisdom of his vision for
urban living.
Nonetheless, through the Cosanti Foundation he and Colly
devoted themselves to research and experimentation in urban planning and the support
of innovative architectural ideas. Arconsanti may not have achieved its goals of
becoming a cost-effective infrastructure, conserving water, minimizing the use
of energy, raw materials and land, reducing waste and pollution, yet it remains
an active project in which more than 6,000 people have had an input since it
began.
Soleri died in Paradise Valley, Arizona, at the age of 93.
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| The distinctive dome of the Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista in Vietri sul Mare |
The town of Vietri sul Mare is considered to be the southern
gateway to the Amalfi coast. The town is best known for the production of
ceramics, which goes back to the 15th century. The church of St John
the Baptist is notable for its dome, which is decorated with blue and white
ceramic tiles. Vietri borders the historic town of Cava dei Tirreni and is separated
from the port of Salerno by nothing more than a sea wall.
Travel tip:
The historical base of the Politechnic University of Turin,
as it is now, is the Castle of Valentino, a 17th-century House of
Savoy on the River Po that houses the main teaching campus. The main campus of
engineering is in Corso Duca degli Abruzzi in central Turin. Other facilities
can be found close to the Mirafiori Motor Village and the Lingotto Building, which
were both once car production centres for FIAT.
