These Sketchbooks contain the seed from which sprang one of the boldest visions of our time—the giant Arcologies, those self-contained city-buildings of comparable extent in all three dimensions. Soleri's reasoned fervor and prophetic matter-of-factness can easily persuade that the realization of this vision will alone save earth from man and man from himself. The private sketchbooks of Soleri—excerpts from which are reproduced in facsimile here—are the visual archive of his daily work, a "procedure of the bookkeeping of the mind," a record of inspiration caught in its inception. This record consists of large drawings (about 400 are included in the book) and text related to them and to more general concerns. A new order of life—Arcology—has gradually evolved through the sketchbooks, which partake of the spirit of da Vinci's notebooks in their complete integration of artistic vision and technical invention. Most of the material presented here is taken from sketchbooks of the early 1960s and pertains to the development of a hypothetical city of 2,000,000 on a plateau and all its satellites and servicing agents. This is the "Mesa City" concept, a pre-Arcology that implicitly contains in potential form what was later realized (on paper) in Arcology: The City in the Image of Man (The MIT Press, 1969). The material reproduced from the sketchbooks is given a new dimension through the inclusion of new text dated 1970. (This comprises in fact somewhat more than half of the book's text.) The reader is thus presented not only with the day-to-day evolvements and continuities but also with the gap of a decade in Soleri's development. The change is astonishing. As the concepts were brought to their radical conclusion, Soleri's concerns became more general and abstract at the same time that his proposals for man's proper habitation on earth have become more explicit and sure-handed, embodied in the Arcologies. The 1970 text sometimes reflects on and takes issue with that of 1960, sometimes pursues further questions independently. One 1970 passage reads: "The use and consumption of the income of the earth and not of its capitals is a must if we want to keep open our options on the future." To many, Soleri's words will seem utopian and his drawings ephemeral fantasies. Let them become aware that Soleri was thinking deeply and fundamentally about man's duty to his environment many years before the cry "ecology" was taken up as a common cause. He remains at least as far ahead of his time now.

The Sketchbooks of Paolo Soleri

Arts & Photography

Soleri, Paolo

Architecture

Mit Pr

This edition contains all the text and illustrations found in the giant Arcology, photographically reduced somewhat to allow a lower price and enhanced handleability. "In the three-dimensional city, man defines a human ecology. In it he is a country dweller and metropolitan man in one. By it the inner and the outer are at 'skin' distance. He has made the city in his own image. Arcology: the city in the image of man." —Paolo Soleri

Arcology: The City in the Image of Man

The Omega seed: An eschatological hypothesis

Anchor Press/Doubleday

Technology and Cosmogenesis offers a hopeful antidote to the destruction of man's environment caused by technology divorced from spirituality. Pasolo Soleri, the renowned architect, urban planner, process philosopher and alchemist of the new spirituality of science and technology, challenges us to let go of our absolutized views of human life and creation. By this release, he holds that we can be healed by a cosmos in the process of becoming divine.

Technology and cosmogenesis

Paragon House Publishers

One of the great classics of XXth century architecture. Initially published in 1973 by the MIT Press. Belongs to every public and college library.

Arcology - the City in the Image of Man

Bridgewood Press

In this book, Soleri discusses why the city structure must contract and miniaturize in order to support our complex economic, social, and cultural activities, and to give individuals a new perspective and renewed trust in society and the future. Soleri skillfully engages the reader in a lively discourse, showing that the city can be humane, healthy, dynamic and stimulating place to be.

Arcosanti An Urban Laboratory?

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Avant Books

The inhabitants of a small Chinese village on the banks of the Yangtze River struggle to prepare for a flood, which threatens to drown them

Arcosanti: An Urban Laboratory? (English and Greek Edition)

Vti Pr

This work is about reshaping the constructs of civilizations through the use of ecological design & other conceptual and practical Tools, such as common sense, deep ecology, totemism, systems theory, metaphor, holistic science, thought experiments, and eutopian strategies.

Redesigning the Planet: Local Systems: Using Ecological Design to Reshape Civilizations

Science & Math

Cobb, John B., Jr.

Fox, Michael W.

Wittbecker, Alan

Naess, Arne D. E.

Biological Sciences

Createspace Independent Pub

Redesigning the Planet: Regions: Regional Ecological Design

Naess, Arne.

Earth Sciences

Paolo Soleri's architectural-philosophical thinking sets forth fundamental reformulations to address the globalizing world's most urgent environmental, urban infrastructural, and socio-ethical problems. In this book, Soleri's most recent philosophical-architectural ideas are distilled into a concentrated overview that is more accessible to the general reader than his previous books. Soleri proposes to transform our societal systems while raising the sights of the reader to a radically long-term and humanistic perspective. Among the interrelated concepts outlined here are Soleri's highly original ideas of orchid and forest, the city as hyper-organism, the urban effect, and the love project, to name a few. These inspiring ideas are acutely timely in light of current environmental trends: responding to global climate change, radically reducing oil dependence, embracing frugality and reduced consumption, while simultaneously confronting issues of suburban sprawl, urban renewal, smart land use, and wise food production. Compiled from Soleri's most recent personal notebooks (2004 2009), this work includes an original interview covering the breadth of his architectural and educational career and essays by Marco Felici and Youngsoo Kim.

Conversations with Paolo Soleri (Conversations with Students)

Reference

Princeton Architectural Press

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