News + Updates for December 2021
Arcology for Kids, Spring Speaker Series, Ag at Arco, + More
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What a wonderful time of year, Friend!
As we settle into the holidays at The Cosanti Foundation, good cheer seems to be everywhere. Despite this being a year of COVID and major transition, we're poised for a brilliant and beautiful year ahead. With a new executive and a renewed commitment to arcology, the future is looking good!
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If you know Arcosanti's history, you know that we've been growing food here for nearly as long as we've been pouring concrete. Over the years, that's meant everything from the addition of a half-dozen greenhouses to the arcology, to planting a peach orchard that's now long gone, to keeping chickens (and ducks and geese and turkeys and peacocks and goats) in Camp, to collaborating with Hopi elders to grow a field full of blue corn, to experiments with the early stages of an "energy apron," and more.
In recent years, though, agriculture has struggled to find firm footing as part of the project. That's changing!
Two years ago, longtime Arconaut and former Construction Manager Dave Tollas started Arco Agritecture. At first a separate nonprofit, as of December 1st, ArcoAg has become an official program of The Cosanti Foundation. We're planting a new orchard, running a regular farmers market, testing agriculture-related workshops, and gathering seeds and starts to get thousands of plants into the ground this winter and spring. The ultimate goal is to provide Arcosanti-grown food to our residents, visitors, and the local community, and to our soon-to-be-reopened café.
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Speaker Series Takes Shape |
If you're looking for ways to experience Arcosanti this winter and spring, you've got options. We're getting ready to host numerous workshop programs, a 4-part dinner series with Cloth+Flame, an 3-day Alumni Reunion, and now, an 8-person speaker series:
- March 5 | Gary Nabhan + Michael Kotutwa Johnson
- March 19 | Roxanne Swentzell + Greg Peterson (via Zoom)
- April 16 | Jim Allen + Kat Thompson
- April 23 | Don Titmus + Kristin Parsons
We'll have more on how to register starting in January. For the latest updates...
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Arcology in the Classroom + Outdoors
What if kids growing up in the sprawl of Phoenix and other American cities could learn about the urban alternatives of arcology, Cosanti, and Arcosanti? Thanks to our Director of Education Norm Pratt and a few intrepid teachers at Desert Cove Elementary School, that's exactly what's happening!
This fall, Paradise Valley 5th-grade teachers Michael Linn and Marlo Johnson piloted an arcology-based curriculum in their classrooms. Their students explored concepts like passive solar, apse effect, ecological accountability, and limited footprint. Then, on November 30th, the students and their families got to visit Cosanti in person (pictured here), seeing first-hand how early versions of those concepts can exist in real life.
This is only the beginning of our effort to develop and implement K-12 curriculum that teaches arcology in alignment with STEM, STEAM, and Next Generation Science Standards. With your help, we can get there even faster.
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Renovation + Restoration Continues |
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Both more than a half-century old, Arcosanti and Cosanti have been receiving a lot of restorative care in recent months, with more to come in 2022. Here are two of the current highlights of that work. |
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Arcosanti Café
We're nearly done with extensive renovations of the café at Arcosanti!
Over the last few months, we've replaced the ancient ovens and stoves, given everything a deep clean and fresh coat of paint, and poured some new concrete (curing under cover in the photo). Now we're working on better lighting and layout (hence the scaffolding, as the lights are more than 20 feet from the floor). Last but not least, we'll be replacing the old carpet and building a new bar.
January 18th is set as a soft reopening date, with service expanding through the spring. Fortunately, we've still been able to hold the Arcosanti Thanksgiving and Holiday celebrations in the café despite the renovation work—that's Tomiaki's classic rebar Christmas Tree in the foreground.
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Cosanti Pink House
Both Cosanti and Arcosanti are built on land that was once ranches. Our street addresses— Doubletree Ranch and South Cross L—reflect the original ranch names. And in both cases, we're lucky to be home to the original ranch houses.
While the ranch house at Arcosanti is a little off the beaten path, the one at Cosanti is the first building people see when they arrive in the parking lot. With its distinct exterior paint, it's often simply referred to as Pink House.
What many folks don't know is that the ranch house at Cosanti was Paolo Soleri's primary residence and studio over the years. Now, 8 years after Paolo's passing, the house is being renovated to ensure its preservation, and to provide welcoming office space for Cosanti staff and visitors alike.
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Be Part of The Cosanti Foundation
If you've ever wanted to work somewhere where you're part of a whole community of smart, funny, creative, talented people working for a better world, The Cosanti Foundation (the nonprofit that runs both Arcosanti and Cosanti) might be a perfect fit. Right now, we have a number of open positions.
At Arcosanti, jobs include the possibility of onsite housing, meaning you have the unique opportunity to both work and live at the world's first prototype arcology.
Cosanti is located in Paradise Valley, making it a convenient place to work for anyone in the Phoenix metro area. It's also on the Arizona Register of Historic places, meaning it's a very special place to work, too.
In both cases, there are plenty of ways to get involved in community events and celebrations, like the one you see in the photo above.
If this sounds like your kind of workplace, consider joining our team.
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Coming in January:
- Welcome back, Strathclyde!
- The Next Phase of Construction
- Spring Events Calendar
- Alumni Reunion Updates
+ more!
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About The Cosanti Foundation |
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Since 1965, The Cosanti Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has advocated for the built environment to be created in harmony with nature through the concept of arcology (architecture + ecology), and through our Arizona demonstration projects, Cosanti and Arcosanti.
Join us in our mission to inspire a reimagined urbanism that builds resilient and equitable communities sustainably integrated with the natural world.
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Images courtesy Paola Avila Chao, Kate Bemesderfer, Norm Pratt, Adam Taylor, Arco Agritecture, and The Cosanti Foundation |
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