On a quiet corner lot in an unassuming affluent neighborhood of the Town of Paradise Valley, Arizona, is the home and studio of architect and artist Paolo Soleri, which he called Cosanti meaning against things.
It doesn’t fit in with the Mediterranean-style estates surrounding it as it exudes Soleri’s signature style as the father of arcology (architecture and ecology). I recently visited this little compound and was fascinated by the Gaudi-like structures. My friend has worked at Cosanti for many years now, and she showed me around when I arrived.
Like so many others, she was drawn to the bells that are manufactured on site. They have a very earthy feel and each a unique tone. Most are made of bronze while some are ceramic. She went for one and kept going back. Now, she helps people fall in love with their own. Thousands of people visit every year just for the bells.
Soleri and Wright
Soleri, originally from Italy, became enchanted by the desert as a member of the Taliesin Fellowship, Frank Lloyd Wright’s apprenticeship community at Taliesin West. He was with the Fellowship for only a few seasons because the two architects had opposing personalities and differences of opinion on key architectural philosophies.
For instance, Wright’s ideal community environment he expressed in his Broad Acre City concept with its spread-out nature giving each family a plot of land to be surrounded by nature and the automobile being essential to life. Soleri was on the other end of the spectrum feeling the ideal community would be very close living with minimal environmental impact giving birth to his arcology philosophy.
After leaving Wright’s cohort, Soleri returned to his native Italy for a short time then settled with his wife in 1956 where he built Cosanti, just a few miles down the hill from Wright’s winter camp.
Cosanti became his home, architectural studio, artist studio, school and laboratory, very similar to Wright’s Taliesins. Another commonality is that both of their design philosophies try to harmonize with nature, though in different ways. That’s about where the similarities end.
Architecture
Cosanti is dug into the ground and made with Soleri’s signature earth molding construction technique. As my friend put it, they’re basically shell of a giant sand castle. To make the structures, they would make mounds of dirt or create molds of dirt to pour concrete over or into. When the concrete was dry, the dirt is either dug out from the form leaving the open space within or the pieces formed on dirt are assembled as structures over already excavated spaces. Either way, it is very different from what you are probably used to.
Each of the molds would be formed with unique designs that would be impressed into the concrete, so that the designs would be seen when the earth is removed. It is similar to how they make their bells in sand molds.
With most of the property partially subterranean, you step down into the spaces and are surrounded by structures that have a very rooted presence to them. They feel like something from another age or even another planet’s architectural vernacular. And with the bells hanging all over the place ringing in the soft breeze, Cosanti has its own soundtrack to accompany the peculiar architecture.
There is a lot of thought put into the design of the structures to maximize things like solar heating in winter and keeping the buildings cool in summer. Only a small portion of the complex is open for the public to visit. Tucked away down secluded staircases and around earthen mounds are private residences including the experimental Earth House.
Bell Casting
If you’re there at the right time, you can watch the artisans pour molten bronze into the individual sand molds for casting. I happened to be there at the right time. Under one of the apses (half domes) there were dozens of sand molds arrayed waiting for the liquid metal to fill them. At the edge of this is the furnace with a glowing (even in the middle of the day), bubbling, hissing, steaming, magma-like substance in a heavy crucible sunken in the ground.
When it is time to pour, heavily protected craftsmen lift the crucible out of its fire and carefully, with the help of another, pour the metal into the awaiting molds. They start with those that need the more fluid substance to fill all the gaps in the sand and end with the larger, thicker bells that can be made from a slightly gooier flow of glowing metal. Great care is taken to ensure everyone is safe and the work is done quickly and properly.
Later that afternoon, those bells I watched them pour would be broken from the molds by smashing them on the ground letting the sand crumble for later use. They would then be assembled in the open-air workshop by the same team of artists who handled the lava metal earlier in the day.
They make small bells and large bells and conglomerations of bells that weigh tons. Each bell is different and each special.
Visiting Paolo Soleri’s Cosanti
Cosanti is mostly used as a showroom and gallery for the bells today as far as public visitors are concerned. You can get an interpretive guide in the shop to tell you about the property and its structures, but there are no tours or informational signs. However, if you talk to my friend Robin, she’d be happy to tell you all about it.
To get immersed in Soleri’s architecture and ideas, one should take a trip to Arcosanti, his experimental community a couple hours north of the Phoenix area. That is where his philosophy of arcology was to be exhibited in full glory.
Cosanti is open 9-5 almost every day for visitors to walk around and browse the selection of bells for sale. Since this is all you do, it is free. To see the bells being poured, call ahead and find out when it will be happening.
