Cosanti is the gallery and studio of Italian-American architect

Paolo Soleri Paolo Soleri (21 June 1919 – 9 April 2013) was an Italian-born American architect. He established the educational Cosanti Foundation and Arcosanti. Soleri was a lecturer in the College of Architecture at Arizona State University and a National ...

; it was his residence until his death in 2013. Located in

Paradise Valley, Arizona Paradise Valley is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and a suburb of Phoenix, the state's largest city. It is Arizona's wealthiest municipality. The town is known for its luxury golf courses, shopping, expensive real estate, and ...

, USA, it is now an Arizona Historic Site open to the public. Cosanti is marked by terraced landscaping, experimental earth-formed concrete structures, and sculptural wind-bells. Soleri and his wife Colly established their residence there in 1956 on a five-acre site just a few miles from

Taliesin West Taliesin West was architect Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home and studio in the desert from 1937 until his death in 1959 at the age of 91. Today it is the headquarters of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Open to the public for tours, Taliesin ...

, where Soleri had studied under

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

ten years earlier. Built on the outskirts of Scottsdale, it is now surrounded by a wealthy suburban neighborhood. In Italian, the name Cosanti "is a combination of the words for 'object' and 'before,' and it means, 'There are things more important than objects.'" In 1970, Soleri outgrew the site. He had coined "

arcology Arcology, a portmanteau of "architecture" and "ecology",. is a field of creating architectural design principles for very densely populated and ecologically low-impact human habitats. The term was coined in 1969 by architect Paolo Soleri, who be ...

" by combining ''architecture'' and ''ecology''; then, combining "arcology" with "Cosanti", he founded

Arcosanti Arcosanti is a projected experimental town with a bronze bell casting business in Yavapai County, central Arizona, United States, north of Phoenix, at an elevation of . Its arcology concept was proposed by Italian-American architect Paolo S ...

, an "urban laboratory" in the desert seventy miles north, for which he became famous. As students and the frontier of development moved there, Cosanti became the headquarters and namesake of Soleri's foundation. The structures at Cosanti include the original "Earth House", a student dormitory, outdoor studios, performance space, a swimming pool, gift shop, and Soleri's residence. All are set amidst courtyards, terraces and garden paths. Many structures are partly underground and surrounded by mounds of earth for insulation, moderating their interior temperatures year-round. Soleri designed and built south-facing

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

s (partial domes) as passive energy collectors that collect light and heat in the lower winter sun, deflecting it and creating shade in the higher summer sun. The swimming pool and several other structures have southern exposures to maximize the warmth of the winter sun. Cosanti predates the concept of

, but many principles of arcology were first implemented at Cosanti. Most of the structures were built with variations on earthcasting.

Concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

was poured over mounds of densely packed earth; the earth was excavated after the concrete solidified. A modified earthcasting technique is also used to craft the bronze and ceramic wind-bells produced at Cosanti and Arcosanti on weekday mornings.

References

External links

Arcosanti official website

preserved at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

The Cosanti Windbell

preserved at the

Cosanti music
{{Coord, 33.56683, -111.94191, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-AZ Art museums and galleries in Arizona Landmarks in Arizona Buildings and structures in Maricopa County, Arizona Tourist attractions in Maricopa County, Arizona Art galleries established in 1956 1956 establishments in Arizona