To walk into the Northern Arizona University Art Museum exhibit of Paolo Soleri is to enter into a hyper-imaginative vision of what the future could—or should—look like. The scale models, sketches and illustrations appear like storyboards and props from some 1970s science fiction cult film. But read more on the architectural concepts behind the retro-futuristic-looking worlds and understand the depth and thinking of Soleri.
The subhead of the exhibit title speaks much of the collection: “Think. Draw. Build. Sustain.” These verbs share much of the actual work of Soleri, who started up a concept called “Arcology,” which is the marriage of architecture and ecology. In the NAU exhibit, the architect and urban planner is represented beautifully in three spaces in the gallery.
The first room features 28 sketches and illustrations, the second room has seven illustrations and the third room has a dozen drawings and paintings, with two models in each room. The more than 50 pieces in the exhibit trace the history of Soleri’s work. It dates back to the 1950s—shortly before he relocated to Arizona from his home in Italy as a pupil of Frank Lloyd Wright.
The most impressive piece in the exhibit is called “Babel Canyon 1969.” This is a prototype of one of Soleri’s Arcologies, a building and urban plan designed with the environment in mind, while also creating a hyper-dense and efficient urban space.
Presented as a Plexiglas model, “BabelCanyon” is a series of skyscrapers that perforate “three pyramidal and multi-functional configurations,” as explained by a description of the work. The designed space would be able to accommodate a population of 250,000 people, or about three-and-a-half times the population ofFlagstaff.
What proves striking about the presentation of Soleri’s work in the museum space is how artistic it is. A series of bridges he designed, drawn into these otherworldly landscapes, present themselves as wonderfully aesthetic forms as much as they do architectural designs. One could walk through the exhibit and pretend it’s the work of a celebrated artist and not a designer of buildings.
The thinking and imagining goes much deeper, however, as Soleri works out intricate plans for built environments that move from simple functionality to something that crosses the line into a utopian ideal.
Living examples
Soleri, who is 93 years old, continues to speak of his visionary concepts and his work has become well-known worldwide and promoted through his Cosanti Foundation. More recently, he has developed something known as the “Lean Linear City” concept. It builds from his various approaches with Arcology.
A description shared in a book about the concept notes that Lean Linear cities are “pedestrian-based communities oriented around linear local and regional transportation systems, fostering quality of life through urban mobility and access, while minimizing consumption of land and material resources of all kinds, including energy resources.”
To call Soleri an architect is shortsighted, as much of his work is not tied to building design as much as it is urban planning. His Cosanti Foundation continues to work on educating people about the Arcology principles.
Located about 80 miles south of Flagstaff, Arcosanti serves as a living example of how Soleri believes communities should be planned, with hyper-density that features buildings as multi-use residential and commercial structures. His designs maximize human interaction, conserve water, reduce sewage, minimize the use of energy and land and reduce environmental pollution.
The NAU exhibit helps bring all of these concepts to light in a museum setting, which in turn shows the creative and artistic aspect of Soleri, who is also known for manufacturing his Soleri Windbells at Arcosanti.
“This exhibition is designed to appeal to many disciplines that are threaded into the practice of responsible architecture today—including the humanities, environmental studies, history, anthropology and natural sciences,” says Dr. George Speer, director of the NAU Art Museum. “Soleri’s work has articulated all of these concerns and it is this broad field of investigation that has made him a visionary architect whose work is still relevant today.”
Not far enough
Despite the sustainable and green movements of architecture and urban planning, Soleri believes that people have not gone far enough to rethink how to develop smarter sustainable communities in light of booming populations and diminishing resources.
“The magic of industrial products like the car have been so attractive to us, and so destructive to the planet and our society, that it is impossible to reform them,” Soleri shared in an interview last month with Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine. “Improvement? Ten more miles per gallon? That still requires billions of us to burn oil at an alarming rate, to transform large amounts of a mineral into the atmosphere. Whether you imagine this transformation has anything to do with global climate change, you must agree that it’s a bad idea.”
Soleri said that the issues of transportation, economy and sustainability must be addressed by architects and planners and remain part of an ongoing continuum, and he argued that people in such professions need to be thoughtful and conscientious about their efforts.
“Our work—my own work—is the product of 10,000 generations of human endeavor, part of a stream of life that might continue on for another 10,000 generations,” he said. “In that sense we are like a flea on the back of an immense tiger of reality. We are trying to bring meaning, self-awareness to that reality. My target is the same target that Ancient Americans had: coherence for one and all.”
“Paolo Soleri: Think. Draw. Build. Sustain” will be at the NAU Art Museum in Old Main on North Campus through April 13. The museum is open from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and closed during all university holidays. Entrance to the exhibit is free. Learn more at www.nau.edu/art_museum or by calling 523-3471.
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Additional photos for this story:
Soleri at work. Photo courtesy of the Cosanti Foundation
Soleri’s Arcosanti, the artist’s ever-evolving vision in practice. Photo courtesy of the Cosanti Foundation
Soleri and several devotees at Arcosanti in an undated photo. Photo courtesy of the Cosanti Foundation
Photo courtesy of the Cosanti Foundation
Construction at Arcosanti. Photo courtesy of the Cosanti Foundation
Soleri at work. Photo courtesy of the Cosanti Foundation
"Nudging Space" model, 2001. Photo by Seth Muller
Photo courtesy of the Cosanti Foundation
The “Babel Canyon 1969” model, one Soleri’s Arcologies. Photo by Seth Muller
