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Step Inside This City of the Future That Time Forgot

by Rick Anderson

An hour north of Phoenix , a city rises from the desert. Its population is 80. It was started in 1970 and is only 5 percent complete. The city, designed by the late Italian architect Paolo Soleri, is called Arcosanti. Arcosanti rests on an arid rise among Sonoran scrub and needled trees. Its ribbed vaults, round shapes, and sweeping curves look lifted from fantasy or sci-fi. Many structures point south for light and heat purposes. There are no roads.

Soleri conceived of Arcosanti in keeping with Arcology, a mode of thinking about design that he created. Arcology brings efficiency and environmental intelligence to the structures and pathways of human life. In theory, a city planned with this school of thought in mind will yield a calculated urban sprawl where people live in harmony with the natural world.

The outside shell of the Ceramics Apse was shaped over a form carved of fine silt. The apse faces south, allowing for shading in the summer from the sun straight overhead. In the winter months the sun is at a low angle, warming the interior of the apse.

“We’re here imagining cities are the newest thing,” says Jeff Stein, co-president of Arcosanti. “Cities happened only 7,000 years or so ago. We haven’t had time to design them properly for human evolution.” Stein lives in a second-floor south-facing apartment. “The thickness of the room is predicated on sun angles,” he says. “On the winter solstice, the sun shines all the way in.” His abode connects to a solar greenhouse that provides heat in the winter and food year-round.

Arcosanti is also built for efficiency. To get to work, Stein has a 30-second commute. He walks out to his balcony, shimmies down a ladder, and turns in to his first-story office. Stein’s building cluster has a courtyard with fig trees. The courtyard is one of the numerous meeting places in the city’s lanes and open spaces.

A view of Arcosanti from the southwest.

Arcosanti further maximizes convenience and community space by cutting roads. “Right now, most American cities are at least 50 percent pavement,” Stein says. “If you get rid of streets, all of a sudden you have a walking city.”

The city’s most striking feature is likely the apse of its bronze foundry, where Soleri bells are cast. The apse resembles quarter-sphere hollows of Romanesque cathedrals where the center gives way to side chapels. Soleri’s apse faces south. It fills with shade in summer, light in winter.

The S.O.D. UNIT [Soleri Office and Drafting Unit] is the southeast cornerstone of the East Crescent Complex at Arcosanti. Constructed during 1978–79, it houses administrative offices, the planning and drafting department, and Paolo Soleri’s apartment at Arcosanti. There is also a large meeting room and greenhouse.

Each year, 50,000 people from all over the world visit Arcosanti. University students come to study design and sustainability. Concerts and festivals are held in its amphitheater. Some visitors even rent apartment guest rooms and stay overnight. Construction on Arcosanti has been glacial; the project may never reach completion, but through the unfinished ecological city the principles of Arcology live on as a model.

“At a time when climate is changing and seas are rising, there’s going to be great migration into the coasts,” Stein says. “We’re trying to be part of the global conversation of how eight million people can live on the planet.”

Arcosanti Vaults viewed from north. The Vaults are the midpoint of the Arcosanti site and design. This large public area provides space for events and meetings.

Interior view of a two-bedroom apartment on the west side of the foundry apse, living room with a window seat facing into the foundry work area.

The Arcosanti Cafe is located in the Crafts III Visitors Center.

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