Cosanti is the gallery and studio of Italian-American architect

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

, serving as his residence until his death in 2013. Located in

Paradise Valley, Arizona Paradise Valley is a desert and mountain town in Arizona east of state capital Phoenix. The town is known for its golf courses, spectacular mountain views, numerous upscale resorts and restaurants, natural beauty with desert landscaping and gor ...

, U.S., it is 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 ( ) is a studio and home developed by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States. Named after Wright's Taliesin studio in Spring Green, Wisconsin, Taliesin West was Wright's winter home and st ...

, where Soleri had studied under

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

ten years earlier. Built on the outskirts of Scottsdale, it is 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 Blend word, portmanteau of "architecture" and "ecology",. is a field of creating architectural design principles for very densely populated and Sustainable development, ecologically low-impact human habitats. The term was coined in ...

" by combining ''architecture'' and ''ecology''; then, combining "arcology" with "Cosanti", he founded Arcosanti, 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 (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

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 aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

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 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

The Cosanti Windbell

preserved at the

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