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Paolo Soleri
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Paolo Soleri |
| Art Encyclopedia: Paolo Soleri |
(b Turin, 21 June 1919). American architect of Italian birth. He received his doctorate in architecture from the polytechnic in Turin in 1946. A scholarship allowed him to travel to the USA, where he began working for Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West in January 1947. Disenchanted with Taliesin he left with his friend Mark Mills in September 1948. They set up camp in the Arizona desert under a crude cantilevered column constructed of concrete blocks. The following year, with a client, Leonora Woods, and her daughter Corolyn Woods, they built with their own hands a house in Cave Creek, AZ (see fig.). It consisted of two spaces of opposite character: a living room roofed by two glass and aluminium domes and a bedroom wing dug deep into a hillside and enclosed in masonry walls similar to those at Wright's Taliesin West. The house dealt with formal, thermal and constructional issues that inspired Soleri throughout his career.
See the Abbreviations for further details.
| Architecture and Landscaping: Paolo Soleri |
(1919– )
Italian-born American architect. He worked for Frank Lloyd Wright (1947–9) before going back to Italy to build the Ceramics Factory, Vietri-sul-Mare, Salerno (1953). As a visionary designer, he returned to the USA where he established the Cosanti Foundation, Scottsdale, AZ (1955), building the Earth House (1956–8) there to demonstrate the possibilities of alternative technologies. He evolved the concept of Arcology in which architecture and ecology are merged, and designed many megastructures, one of which, called Arcosanti, near Scottsdale, intended to demonstrate his ideas, was commenced in 1970. He published Arcology: The City in the Image of Man (1969).
Bibliography
- R.Banham (1976)
- Casper (1988)
- Kalman (1994)
- LeG&S (1996)
- Lima (ed.) (2003)
- Ranocchi (1996)
- S&S (1976)
- Soleri (1969, 1971, 2002)
- Strohmeier (ed.) (2001)
- Jane Turner (1996)
- Wall (1971)
The full bibliography for this book is available to download as a pdf file.
Download the bibliography for A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (PDF: 1.2MB)
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Paolo Soleri |
Soleri, Paolo, 1919-, Italian-American architect. He studied architecture in Turin (Ph.D., 1946). Soleri's works have been influenced by both Frank Lloyd Wright, with whom he worked, and Antonio Gaudí. He developed an architecture that expresses a functional and organic way of life. Soleri has produced extraordinary designs for vast, high-density, self-sufficient, and multilevel communities built in the desert. These, which he terms arcologies, are proposed alternatives and responses to the increased problems of overpopulation and urban sprawl and decay. Soleri and his students and assistants have been building an arcology, Arcosanti, north of Phoenix, Ariz. since 1970. It was conceived as a prototype to show how cities might be updated, minimizing energy and transportation use while promoting human interaction. Soleri is the author of Arcology: The City in the Image of Man (1969).
Bibliography
See his Sketchbooks (1971); J. Strohmeier, ed., The Urban Ideal: Conversations with Paolo Soleri (2000); D. Wall, Visionary Cities: The Arcology of Paolo Soleri (1970); A. I. Lima, Paolo Soleri: Architecture, or Human Ecology (2000, tr. 2001).
| Wikipedia: Paolo Soleri |
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This biography of a living person does not cite any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately. (January 2008) Find sources: (Paolo Soleri – news, books, scholar) |
| Paolo Soleri | |
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Name | Paolo Soleri |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Birth date | June 21, 1919 |
| Birth place | Turin, Italy |
| Work | |
| Significant buildings | Cosanti |
| Significant projects | Arcosanti |
| Awards and prizes | 2006 - Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for lifetime achievement 2000 - Leone d'oro at the Mostra di Architettura di Venezia (Venice Biennale of Architecture) for his lifelong achievement |
Paolo Soleri (born June 21, 1919) is an Italian-American visionary architect with a life-long commitment to research and experimentation in design and town planning. He established Arcosanti and the educational Cosanti Foundation. Soleri is a distinguished lecturer in the College of Architecture at Arizona State University and a National Design Award recipient in 2006.
Contents |
Early life
Soleri was born in Turin, Italy. He was awarded his "laurea" (M.Sc. degree) with highest honors in architecture from the Politecnico di Torino in 1946. He visited the United States in 1947 and spent a year and a half in fellowship with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West in Arizona, and at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin. During this time, he gained international recognition for a bridge design displayed at the Museum of Modern Art.
Soleri returned to Italy in 1950 where he was commissioned to build a large ceramics factory, "Ceramica Artistica Solimene." The processes he became familiar with in the ceramics industry led to his award-winning designs of ceramic and bronze windbells and siltcast architectural structures. For over 30 years, the proceeds from the windbells have provided funds for construction to test his theoretical work.
In 1956 he settled in Scottsdale, Arizona, with his late wife, Colly, and their two daughters. Dr. and Mrs. Soleri made a life-long commitment to research and experimentation in urban planning, establishing the Cosanti Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation. Soleri's philosophy and works have been strongly influenced by the Jesuit paleontologist and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
Arcosanti
The Foundation's major project is Arcosanti, a planned community for 5,000 people designed by Soleri, under construction since 1970. Located near Cordes Junction, about 70 miles north of Phoenix and visible from Interstate I-17 in central Arizona, the project is based on Soleri's concept of "Arcology," architecture coherent with ecology. 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.
Since 1970, over 6000 people have participated in Arcosanti's construction. Their international affiliation group is called the Arcosanti Arcology Network. As of 2005 Arcosanti stands an estimated 3% complete.
Other achievements
The International Architecture Symposium "Mensch und Raum" (man and space) at the Vienna University of Technology (Technische Universität Wien) in 1984 received international attention. Paolo Soleri participated, among others: Justus Dahinden, Dennis Sharp, Bruno Zevi, Jorge Glusberg, Otto Kapfinger, Frei Otto, Pierre Vago, Ernst Gisel, Ionel Schein.
Soleri is a distinguished lecturer in the College of Architecture at Arizona State University and a member of the Lindisfarne Association.
A landmark exhibition, "The Architectural Visions of Paolo Soleri," organized in 1970 by the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, traveled extensively in the U.S. and Canada, breaking records for attendance. "Two Suns Arcology, A Concept for Future Cities" opened at the Xerox Square Center in Rochester, New York, in 1976. In 1989 "Paolo Soleri Habitats: Ecologic Minutiae," and exhibition of arcologies, space habitats and bridges, was presented at the New York Academy of Sciences. Most recently, "Soleri's Cities, Architecture for the Planet Earth and Beyond" was featured at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts in Scottsdale, AZ. His work has been exhibited worldwide.
The Paolo Soleri Archives, the collection of all of Soleri's art and letters, is located at Arcosanti. The Soleri Archives is managed by Sue Anaya under the direction of Cosanti Board Trustee Director of Special Projects Tomiaki Tamura, who resides at Arcosanti. Advisors to the Soleri Archives represent the US National Gallery, MOMA, CCA (Canadian Centre for Architecture), The Getty, Eastman House, Taliesin, and The Smithsonian.
Awards
Soleri has received one fellowship from the Graham Foundation and two from the Guggenheim Foundation.[disambiguation needed] He has been awarded three honorary doctorates and several awards from design groups worldwide:
- 2006 - Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for lifetime achievement
- 2000 - Leone d'oro at the Mostra di Architettura di Venezia (Venice Architecture Biennale) for his lifelong achievement
- 1984 - Silver Medal of the Academie d' Architecture in Paris
- 1981 - Gold Medal from the World Biennial of Architecture in Sofia, Bulgaria
- 1963 - American Institute of Architects Gold Medal for Craftmanship
Writings
He has written six books and numerous essays and monographs. When he is not traveling on the international lecture circuit, Soleri divides his time between Cosanti, the original site for his research located in Scottsdale, and Arcosanti.
See also
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Learn More
 | Arcology (architecture) |
| Portrait of an Artist: Soleri's Cities - Architecture for the Planet Earth and Beyond (Visual Arts Film) |
| Soleri's Cities: Architecture for Planet Earth and Beyond (1993 Culture & Society Film) |
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 | Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Art Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Art. Copyright © 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Architecture and Landscaping. A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Copyright © 1999, 2006 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Paolo Soleri". Read more |
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Mentioned in
- Arcology (architecture)
- Portrait of an Artist: Soleri's Cities - Architecture for the Planet Earth and Beyond (Visual Arts Film)
- Soleri's Cities: Architecture for Planet Earth and Beyond (1993 Culture & Society Film)
- Robert Wilson (art)
- Maurice Culot (art)
- William Irwin Thompson (parapsychology)
- Scottsdale: Travel Guide (city, Arizona)
- modern architecture (in architecture)
- Astropolis
- Arcosanti
- 1919 in architecture
- Jorge Glusberg
- Bicycle City
- Javier Senosiain
