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PAOLO SOLERI
o AN ITALIAN ARCHITECT BORN IN 21ST JUNE 1919.
o HE ESTABLISHED THE EDUCATIONAL CORSANTI
FOUNDATION AND ARCOSANTI.
o HIS MODEL BUILDS UPON HIS WORK IN THE AREA OF
ARCHITECTURE AND HUMAN ECOLOGY DATING BACK
TO THE 1940S. HIS THINKING IS HOLISTIC IN THE SENSE
THAT IT CROSSES TRADITIONAL BOUNDARIES BETWEEN
SUBJECTS LIKE ARCHITECTURE, ECOLOGY, BIOLOGY,
URBAN DESIGN, SOCIOLOGY, ENVIRONMENTAL
STUDIES, AND ART.
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PAOLO SOLERI
• Early work was focused on the production of a theoretical model
for a new physical landscape, what he calls a neonature, designed
to support biological, human, and social evolution while
containing human societies along with all their material goods.
• His approach recognizes the need for the radical reorganization
of sprawl into dense, integrated compact urban structures in
which material recycling, waste reduction, and the use of
renewable energy sources are part of a strategy aimed at
reducing the flow of resources and products through the urban
system.
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PAOLO SOLERI
• The approach clearly presupposes a radical revision of existing social, cultural,
political, and economic structures. Soleri points out the direction that must be
taken within the complexity - miniaturization - duration (CMD) paradigm.
• 1. COMPLEXITY. Many events and processes cluster wherever a living process
is going on. The make-up of the process is immensely complex and ever
intensifying.
• 2. MINIATURIZATION. The nature of complexity demands the rigorous
utilization of all resources-mass-energy and space-time, for example. Therefore,
whenever complexity is at work, miniaturization is mandated and a part of the
process.
• 3. DURATION. Process implies extension of time. Temporal extension is warped
by living stuff into acts of duration, that is, the eventual "living outside of time."
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PAOLO SOLERI
• Soleri's methodology was developed within the Mesa City Project
(1958-67) where a series of relationships between human ecology and
urban design were explored. In 1969 he published Arcology: the City
in the Image of Man and sketched out giant structures that would dwarf
the Empire State Building and were located in the most inhospitable
environments imaginable.
• The 31st generation arcologies had names like Novanoah II (a city for
2,400,000 to float on coastal waters or open sea), Stonebow 200,000
people above a ravine or canyon), Theology (with a population of
13,000 set within a cliff), Arcube (a city of 400,000 people located on
flatlands), Hexahedron (a city of 170,000 on any topography), and
Asteromo (70,000 people living in space).
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MESA CITY
AN IMAGINARY LAND MASS ROUGHLY THE SIZE OF MANHATTAN CITY (14,600ACRES)WITH A POPULATION OF 2
MILLION
THE CITY IS CENTERED AROUND TWO PEAK NODES
THE THEOLOGICAL CENTER IN THE NORTH AND HIGHER LEARNING CENTER IN THE SOUTH
THESE NODES ARE SUPPOSEDLY CONNECTED BY HIGHWAYS UNDERGROUND BUS TUNNELS AND AXIAL PARKS.
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MESA CITY
Take one human brain, for example. If it were two dimensional
it might cover an area of twenty or so
square miles(33kms). There’s so much going on within it that
you would need thousands of miles of connectors
for it to function. But the human brain, as it has
evolved, is an example of enormous complexity which
comes about because of its folding over, three dimensionally,
back upon itself, and the notion of
miniaturization is intrinsic to this process.
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MESA CITY
It is like taking the brain and saying,
“Well, we want this brain to be more in touch with
nature,” and unfolding it across the land. By doing
that, we destroy the brain as well as destroy nature -we
destroy the city and destroy nature—automatically
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MESA CITY
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MESA CITY
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MESA CITY
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MESA CITY
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PAOLO SOLERI
ENERGY CRISIS OF THE MID-70S, THE ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPT
OF THE FIRST GENERATION STRUCTURES WAS SPLIT IN HALF
EXPOSING THE CORE OF THE STRUCTURE TO THE SUN.
SIX MAJOR (AND SIMPLE) ARCHITECTURAL EFFECTS WERE
DESCRIBED, COLLECTIVELY UNDER THE "TWO SUNS
ARCOLOGY":
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
HORTICULTURAL EFFECT
APSE EFFECT
CHIMNEY EFFECT
HEAT SINK EFFECT
THE URBAN EFFECT
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ARCOLOGY
• ARCOLOGY IS A NEOLOGISM COINED BY
SOLERI.
• IT’S A BLEND OF THE WORDS ARCHITECTURE
AND ECOLOGY.
• The concept was first published in the 1969 book
Arcology: The City in the Image of Man
• HE SPENT HIS LIFE DRAWING AND DESIGNING
ARCOLOGIES.
• ONE SUCH ASPIRING ENDEVOUR IS ARCOSANTI
(architecture before things ).
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ARCOSANTI
• AN ATTEMPT TO TEST AND DEMONSTRATE AN ALTERNATIVE
HUMAN HABITAT.
• LOCATED IN ARIZONA.
• A RETURN THEN TO A LIFESTYLE THAT HAS BEEN LOST .
• A HOLISTIC BUILDING FILLED WITH SOCIAL
INTERRELATIONSHIPS.
• ARCOSANTI OFFERS A WORKING PROTOTYPE FOR A NEW KIND
OF CITY THAT IS DESIGNED, BUILT, AND INHABITED AS A
THREE-DIMENSIONAL, HIGHLY CONCENTRATED URBAN
STRUCTURE.
• HIS IDEA WAS THAT BUILT SPACE AND LIVING SPACE WOULD
INTERACT AS LIKE ORGANS WOULD IN A HIGHLY EVOLVED
BEING.
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ARCOSANTI
• MEANING MANY SYSTEMS WOULD WORK
TOGETHER WITH EFFICIENT CIRCULATION
OF PEOPLE AND RESOURCES
MULTI USE BUILDINGS AND SOLAR
ORIENTATION FOR LIGHTING HEATING AND
COOLING.
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ARCOSANTI
THE DESIGN CONTAINS THREE
PRIMARY ELEMENTS
1.THE BOWLS
HUGE OVAL FORMS LIKE INVERTED
BELLS CREATING ARTIFICIAL GROUND
AND ALLOWS LIGHT TO PASS THROUGH
TO THE NATURAL GROUND BENEATH.
2.THE RESIDENCE
THE LONG LINEAR FIVE STORY FORM
CONNECTING ALL THE BUILDINGS
INTERGRATING FUNCTIONS OF
ROADWAYS,RESIDENCE,STUDIOS,CLASS
ROOMS AND CONDUITS.
3.THE APSE
INTENDED AS OUTDOOR WORKSPACES.
The domes and amphitheatre
are used for various purposes
right from displaying potery
to housing concerts.
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ARCOSANTI
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ARCOSANTI
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ARCOSANTI
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ARCOSANTI
ARCOSANTI’S PRIMARY RESIDENCE AND
COURTYARD.
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ARCOSANTI
INTERIOR
ARCOSANTI
• LARGE CONCRETE ARCHWAYS INDICATE SOLERI’S
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE.
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ARCOSANTI
ACTUAL PROPOSED IDEA.
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ARCOSANTI
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INFERENCE
ALTHOUGH EXTREMELY HYPOTHETICAL IN
THE NEAR FUUTRE ‘ARCOLOGY’ MIGHT
MINIMALIZE THE INDIVIDULA HUMAN
IMAPACT ON ENVIRONMENT
AND ALSO PROVIDE NEW SPACES FOR A
VARIETY OF RESIDENTIAL COMMERCIAL AND
AGRICULTURAL FACILITIES.
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