Arcosanti

Arcosanti is an experimental city located about an hour's drive north of Phoenix. It was started in 1970 and is still a work in progress. Paolo Solieri, the architect who envisioned this city of the future, came up with the term "arcology" and Arcosanti is an example of this. But what exactly is an arcology? From the Arcosanti website:

Arcology is the fusion of architecture with ecology, a comprehensive urban perspective. In nature, as organisms evolve, they increase in complexity and become a more compact system. A city should similarly evolve, functioning as a living system. Architecture and ecology as one integral process, is capable of demonstrating positive response to the many problems of urban civilization – population growth, pollution, energy/natural resource depletion, food scarcity, and quality of life. Arcology recognizes the necessity of the radical reorganization of the sprawling urban landscape into dense, integrated, three-dimensional cities in order to support the diversified activities that sustain human culture and environmental balance.

I'm not sure if you can call Arcosanti a failed project beause 50 years on it is still existant but it never attained the full purpose that was envisioned. Less than 100 people live there full time and they have to seek supplies in Phoenix or other nearby towns as the settlement is not self-sustaining. I do think the idea of arcologies has merit and this enterprise could be a good starting point for trying to achieve the goal of being urbanized in partnership with nature.

For me, this was an interesting place to visit and presented some interesting ideas. Just a note - these pictures are from 2011 so any information you may see on signs is outdated.

entrance to Arcosanti
Entrance to Arcosanti.
view of Arcosanti from the entrance area
View of Arcosanti from the entrance area with some random people. I believe there was a sale going on in the gift shop at the time, hence the SALE banner.
another view of Arcosanti showing a concrete roadway and a dirt one, 5 buildings 3 of which have domed roofs.
Another view showing some of the buildings of Arcosanti, several of which have domed roofs.
bronze bells
Some of the bronze bells which Arcosanti is known for
vaulted open air area. The vaulted ceiling is in sections and has orange medallions at the bottom of the sections. The large central medallion at the top is also orange and in the middle section one yellow medallion is visible. The domed area is full of shelving and seated people.
Workshop area. These areas were built facing south which means they are situated to be tolerable temperature-wise for most of the year. In the summer the sun will be overhead, so anyone in the apse will be shaded while in the winter the sun has a lower angle and can provide warmth by shining into the apse.
Under a dome and looking outward you can see details of the painted red and orange designs on the vault walls.
Arcosanti features a vaulted area which provides space for events.
Inner vault wall and arch is painted with broad stripes of yellow, red, orange and brown.
Detail of the Vault walls.
open courtyard area with two flights of steps leading up on the left and right and a basketball hoop in between them.
It's been so long since I've taken this trip that I don't remember particulars about any of my photos but clearly this is an area utilized by the permanent residents, based on the basketball hoop.
Detail of ceramic tiles that are white, embossed with lines, circles and other shapes and accented with yellow and dark blue splashes of color.
Detail of ceramic tiles.
Outdoor area showing a building on the right with a stairway to the far side of it leading upwards and a door under the stairs. In front of the building is a small grassy area with a small tree and what looks like a small chiminea.
Outdoor area
another view of an outdoor area showing concrete outer walls in the background and a building in the foreground that has an encosed area with a circular entranceway and a tree that has grown with its crown poking outside the circular entrance.
Outdoor area
Outdoor ampitheater area. In the background is a building with three square entranceways with circular openings.
Outdoor ampitheater area
decorative bronze item on the ground made of several bronze shapes - squares, circles, a diamond shape and something that looks like an abstract bird on the top.
Decorative bronze something-or-other. I can't remember if this was functional in some way or just pure whimsy.
Outdoor area. On the left is a building with windows and a greenhouse at the far end. In the distance you can see hills and mountains and the sky is overcast.
Outdoor area
Outdoor workshop area at the bottom of a hill. There is a work area covered with sun shades and in front of that a concrete arch with a person working underneath it.
Outdoor workshop area

If you found this interesting, here are some more links about Arcosanti.