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 Just a note - these pictures are from 2011 so any information you may see on signs is outdated.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.

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.

Some of the bronze bells which Arcosanti is known for

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.

Arcosanti features a vaulted area which provides space for events.

Detail of the Vault walls.

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.

Outdoor area

Outdoor ampitheater area

Decorative bronze something-or-other. I can't remember if this was functional in some way or just pure whimsy.

Outdoor area

Outdoor workshop area

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

Arcosanti
Step Inside This City of the Future That Time Forgot - this article from Architectural Digest has some really cool photos. Viewing the apartments on site was not part of the public tour and there is a picture of an apartment included in the article. It reminds me so much of something I'd see in a science fiction movie.
Arcosanti: urban laboratory or forgotten utopia?