Text 32408, 62 rader
Skriven 2013-01-08 17:19:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: recent trip 55
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Paolo Soleri is perhaps the second most famous architect
associated with the valley of the sun. Lilli asked the
logical question, was he associated with Frank Lloyd Wright;
I said I didn't think so but Googled the question: I wasn't
right. After getting his doctorate, he came to Scottsdale to
study with Wright for a year, then went off to launch his
own star. His dream was to create unified, high-density,
efficient cities that minimized waste and urban sprawl and
reduced reliance on the automobile. I always thought of him
(when I thought of him at all, seldom) as a bit of a cultist
and a loony, not unlike Wright. This even though I share
most of his vision. Reason: I think that his ideas were as
much reified puns as anything. Thinking of himself in solar
terms, and attributing huge importance to arches and their
alignment with the sun, he seems to have made architecture
the extension as much of a Nabokovian word playfulness as
of his world view. The Wiki says, and I think this is
pretty much a crib of his own writings -

  Paolo Soleri invented the words "Cosanti", "Arcosanti",
  and "arcology".

  He coined "arcology" by combining the words "architecture"
  and "ecology". 

  Cosanti" fuses two Italian words, "cosa" (which means
  "things") and "anti" ("against"). "Arcosanti" combines
  both "arcology" and "Cosanti".

I may add that arcosanti also means arch of the saints, not
bad for a nontheist.

It's difficult to launch your star, and in order to survive
Soleri started making sculptures and utensils out of bronze
and ceramic. For some reason people latched onto his quirky
but attractive bells, and it is this for which he is best
known. Interestingly, few of the bells I saw actually rang
true at all: it's more the rather gnarly appearance than
the sound that appeals.

There are two Soleri sites north of Phoenix - Cosanti, site
of the major foundry, where he and various family members
still live, and Arcosanti, the utopian socialist community
that is, if you will, the real epcotf.

We visited Cosanti on a crystalline morning, guided by a
semi-stray cat and an intense and obviously smitten young
woman. The place is a warren of paths and passages leading
among workplaces, showplaces, the great man's home, and of
course a sale point. While we were visiting this last, the
young woman excitedly offered, there will be a pour at 10,
would you like to see it? We and the others in the room of
course said yes; it wasn't a long wait. Worth it, too, as
even though the pouring of molten metal into molds is pretty
straightforward, it still strikes a primordial chord. I
ended up buying a couple bells; I tested them both for tone
and appearance, and my examining each myopically one and
then ring it solemnly must have been an amusing sight.

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