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From the Publisher
Through his work as architect, urban designer, artist, craftsman and philosopher, Paolo Soleri has been exploring the countless possibilities of human aspiration. The envisioned future taking shape in his mind has been expressed in various media. One outstanding endeavor is Arcosanti, an urban laboratory, constructed in the high Arizona desert. It attempts to demonstrate an alternative human habitat much needed in this increasingly perplexing world. This project also exemplifies his steadfast devotion to creating an experiential space to "prototype" an environment in harmony with man. Through his articulated philosophy "Arcology (Architecture+Ecology)", Soleri formulates a path that may aid us on our evolutionary journey toward a state of aesthetic, equity and compassion. The half century work of his broad-ranging and coherent intellect (so scarce in the age of specialization) has influenced many in the field in search of a new paradigm for our built environment. ...Tomiaki Tamura
From the Author
Not really knowing if things get ready for a torrid planet or for a new Ice Age, the poor architects are faced by a habitat singularly off target. In either case the single home will be the wrong package. Tightly woven minimalist packages for entire communities will become mandatory.
Not to imitate the nano-biotechnology of organisms but put to use its teaching: self containment, miniaturization, complexity, automation under the tutelage of volition and religion. Volition is the (automated) inner drive of the living. Religion is the bonding (derived from religare in Latin) indispensable for the volitional sparks. Am I speaking arcology?!?! If so, this 37-year-old publication still resonates with my current thinking.
I am advocating a Lean Hypothesis about reality and a Lean Alternative to our materialistic culture. With the lean urban development I put tangibility to my conjecturing. Years ago I declared that Leanness is frugality fraught with sophistication. The gazelle is lean, i.e. frugality wrapped in grace.
Can anyone imagine a frozen tundra or a scorching Sahara colonized by millions of hermitages, single homes? A nightmarish American Dream incapable of supporting any kind of dignified life, let alone the evolution of a civilization. Is the exurban (ever-expanding suburban) metastasis a bejeweled dream? Of food and shelter, the two indispensable needs of life, shelter is the direct responsibility of planners; architects, urban planners, builders, developers, speculators, politicians, students ... time to wake up!
...Paolo Soleri, Arcosanti, Arizona
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
great book to inspire your young architect/planner,
By
This review is from: Arcology: The City in the Image of Man (Paperback)
I saw this book in a store in the late seventies and bought it for myself. As a teenaged reader, I was very impressed with the art, and inspired by the text (nonsensical though some of it seemed). Clearly utopian and attractive, this book will inspire many a young artist or city planner. The fact that it is so far afield of the mainstream is only a plus: it will challenge and stimulate critical thinkers.Note: with the high cost of building an arcology, and the need for (rather unamerican) centralized control, why haven't one of the arab states tried building one? UAE is certainly spending arcology-scale sums on the construction of the Burj Dubai complex...
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An intellectually and visually stunning book,
By Norm (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Arcology: The City in the Image of Man (Paperback)
The first edition of this book is huge - several feet wide when opened, and the images are all the more impressive in that format. Given the price for this reduced size edition, it might be worth your while to search for a used copy of the big edition. Size is the only reason I gave the book less than a 5 star review.I purchased the book when I worked for Solari in 73, and revisited the book recently when my son and I had a discussion about low environmental impact lifestyles in urban settings. It was a joy to rediscover, and I was struck how far its influence has spread during the intervening years, particularly in the field of science fiction. In many ways the book itself is a work of fiction, with designs that are outrageous in scale, and impractical to construct, at least in the here and now. That is one reason I love the earlier edition so much - the book's outrageous scale matched the scale of the concept itself. In retrospect, I think the vision promoted in the book is even more attractive now than it was in the early 1970s. We are beginning to see mega-scale construction projects, and the one thing they so obviously lack is Solari's humanity and commitment to the individual's place in such massive structures.
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