Born in Turin, Italy on June 21, 1919, Paolo Soleri was awarded his Ph.D. with highest honors in architecture from the Torino Polytechnico in 1946. He came to the United States in 1947 and spent a year-and-a-half in fellowship with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West in Arizona, and at Taliesin East in Wisconsin. During this time, he gained international recognition for a bridge design displayed at the Museum of Modern Art and published in The Architecture of Bridges by Elizabeth Mock.
He returned to Italy in 1950 where he was commissioned to build a large ceramics factory, "Ceramica Artistica Solimene." The processes he became familiar with in the ceramics industry led to his award-winning designs of ceramic and bronze windbells and siltcast architectural structures. For over 30 years, the proceeds from the windbells have provided funds for construction to test his theoretical work.
In 1956, he settled in Scottsdale, Arizona, with his late wife, Corolyn "Colly" Woods Soleri, and their young daughter; their second daughter was born two year later. Dr. and Mrs. Soleri made a life-long commitment to research and experimentation in urban planning, establishing the Cosanti Foundation, a not-for-profit educational foundation.
The Cosanti Foundation's major project is Arcosanti, a prototype town for 5,000 people designed by Soleri, under construction since 1970. Located at Cordes Junction, in central Arizona, the project is based on Soleri's concept of "arcology," the fusion of architecture + ecology. Arcology advocates cities designed to maximize the interaction and accessibility associated with an urban environment; minimize the use of energy, raw materials and land, reducing waste and environmental pollution; and allow interaction with the surrounding natural environment.
A landmark exhibition, "The Architecture Visions of Paolo Soleri," organized in 1970 by the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, traveled extensively in the U.S. and Canada, breaking records for attendance. "TwoSunsArcology, A Concept for Future Cities" opened at the Xerox Square Center in Rochester, New York, in 1976. In 1989, "Paolo Soleri Habitats: EcologicMinutiae," and exhibition of arcologies, space habitats, and bridges, was presented at the New York Academy of Sciences. Most recently, "Soleri's Cities, Architecture for the Planet Earth and Beyond" was featured at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts in Scottsdale, AZ.
Paolo Soleri has written six books, numerous essays, and monographs. Soleri has received a fellowship from the Graham Foundation and two from the Guggenheim Foundation. He has been awarded three honorary doctorates, the Silver Medal of the Academy of Architecture in Paris, 1984, the Gold Medal from the World Biennial of Architecture in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1981, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Gold Medal for Craftmanship in 1963, and the Golden Lion Award at La Bienale di Venizia (2000). In fall of 2005, Soleri was the subject of a major exhibition in Rome on his life and work, titled Paolo Soleri: Ethics and Urban Inventiveness. Soleri was awarded the 2006 Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement and the Arizona Technology Council, Arizona Governor's Celebration of Innovation Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. His work has been exhibited worldwide.
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