What happened to arcosanti

Visionary Cities, like Soleri’s vision of “chronological destiny”, is often grandiose. Its predominantly black pages are daunting and the architecture itself is not well shown. It confronts the reader with a spectacle so relentless and estranging that it could easily have proved insurmountable to some. No book that cultivates indeterminacy to this degree could be called a masterpiece, but it is certainly a landmark in its synthesis of critical commentary and design.

With thanks to Mirko Ilic.

Rick Poynor, writer, Eye founder, London

First published in Eye no. 32 vol. 8, 1999

Eye is the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published quarterly for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture. It is available from all good design bookshops and online at the Eye shop, where you can buy subscriptions and back issues.

American architect (1919–2013)

Paolo Soleri (21 June 1919 – 9 April 2013)^[1] was an American architect and urban planner. He established the educational Cosanti Foundation and Arcosanti. Soleri was a lecturer in the College of Architecture at Arizona State University and a National Design Award recipient in 2006. He coined the concept of 'arcology' – a synthesis of architecture and ecology as the philosophy of democratic society.^[2] He died at home of natural causes on 9 April 2013 at the age of 93.^[3]

Soleri authored several books, including The Bridge Between Matter & Spirit is Matter Becoming Spirit and Arcology – City In the Image of Man.^[4]

Early life and education

Soleri was born in Turin, Italy. He was awarded his "laurea" (master's degree) in architecture from the Politecnico di Torino in 1946. He visited the United States in December 1946 and spent a year and a half in fellowship with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West in Arizona, and at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin. During this time, he

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