Arcosanti

Arcosanti is an urban laboratory located outside of Cordes Junction, Arizona. Italian architect, Paolo Soleri designed it in the 1960s, and construction began in 1970. The Arcosanti community serves as a location for ongoing experimentation in architectural design and construction.

The archives at Arcosanti provide an excellent source for people doing research focused on innovative ideas that found a first or important home in Yavapai County. The historical period covered is very recent (1970 onward) and archival materials tend to be technical in nature.

Many of the items people might want to access regarding either Arcosanti or the work of Paulo Soleri are on Arcosanti's web site: www.arcoscanti.org. Probably of greatest interest to researchers would be the general over-view of Arcosanti and the bibliography of Paulo Soleri's works.

The archives at Arcosanti are not set up to serve the public, but the community is likely to provide access to serious researchers. Prospective researchers must make appointments in advance. Anyone interested in doing research at Arcosanti should contact Tomiaki Tamura, the General Manager of the Arcosanti Project and Director of the Paulo Soleri Archives. He can be reached at:

HC 74
Box 4136 Mayer, Arizona 86333
520-632-7135
ttmr@getnet.com

• Publications about Soleri personally and about Arcosanti in particular
  They have a complete collection of publications that discuss Paolo Soleri's work in general and Arcosanti in particular, from the 1960s to the present. In the archives, personnel have attempted to collect all journals, which range in scope from Newsweek to architectural and environmentally focused journals from all over the world. There are magazines from most European countries as well as the Soviet Union/Russia and other areas as well. They currently have only hard copies but hope to digitize the collection in the future, rather than to move it to microfilm.
• Soleri's drawings
  There is a good, close to complete collection of Soleri's designs. Some of these are available to the public in a published format; some are not.
• Photographs of the project and models
  Their photo collection numbers in the thousands. Most of the photos are of the existing buildings and spaces at Arcosanti though some are of models. Interested parties can purchase slides that are already collected into "shows." Some images in their collection are copyrighted. Although their collection consists of prints and negatives, they plan to digitize the photo images as well as the maps.
• Items they do not have
  The archive does not house information on present or former members of the association.