News + Updates for January 2022 We've Got Students, Workshops, Staff, Speakers, + More

What a busy year, Friend! The spring semester with The School of Architecture has begun. Our 2022 workshops are underway. We're welcoming new staff and a nearly-finished café. Registration for our Spring Speaker Series is live. And January isn't even over yet! Take a look at how we've hit the ground running for the new year.

School Is in Session This month, Arcosanti welcomed back our biggest academic partners, the students and faculty of The School of Architecture (TSOA), for their spring term. Joining them this semester are 6 additional Masters of Architecture students from Kean University as well as 2 students in TSOA's 8-week Immersion Program. We've also been hosting a variety of student groups from Georgia Tech and ASU, 2 of the 4 schools affiliated with The Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics (CBBG). They're working on project proposals as part of the CBBG-sponsored Arcosanti Design Challenge, using advanced engineering and materials science to work on some of the construction and erosion challenges here. And last but not least, this week will also see the arrival of 3 students who are part of the University of Strathclyde's Master of Science in Sustainable Engineering: Architecture + Ecology, an arcology-based degree program developed by Professor David Grierson, an Arcosanti alumnus. Welcome, all!

Kean University students attend their first Morning Meeting at Arcosanti Director of Site Management Scott Riley gives CBBG students & faculty a tour of the mesa

Workshop participants get a tour of the Soleri Archives and of Seth Winslow's work on virtual Arcosanti and arcology models. Arcosanti's multi-talented Foundry Manager, Ali Gibbs, leads the Trash & Recycling Orientation for new arrivals. Winter Workshops Begin Education at Arcosanti isn't just for college and university students. With over 8000 alumni and spanning more than 50 years, the heart of experiential learning for The Cosanti Foundation has always been our signature multi-week workshop program. Our workshop alumni come from all walks of life, all over the world. These are the people who built both Cosanti and Arcosanti, and who continue to contribute to the growth and maintenance of Arcosanti and Cosanti today. This month, we welcomed our newest group of workshop participants (and future Arcosanti alumni) for the current 6-Week Workshop Program. After 10 days of orientation and arcology curriculum, they'll be shifting gears to get hands-on with projects across Arcosanti. Interested in becoming a workshop participant yourself? We've got two more 6-Week Workshops scheduled for the spring. Learn More + Apply Today

More Friendly Faces

As our programs continue to grow, meet two of the fantastic folks who have recently joined our team. To see current job openings, visit our website.

Welcome, Noémie! After arriving at Arcosanti for the fall semester as a Teaching Fellow with The School of Architecture, Noémie Despland-Lichert has joined The Cosanti Foundation as our first-ever Assistant Curator for the Soleri Archives. Originally from Belgium, Noémie is a historian, curator, and educator previously based in Los Angeles and Texas. She holds a post-professional Master of Architecture from McGill University and a Master of Curatorial Practices from the University of Southern California. In her new role, Noémie will be working with Sue Kirsch, our Archives Manager, and Norm Pratt, our Director of Education, to create a variety of public exhibitions featuring some of the many treasures our archives hold. See Our Archives Welcome, Shawn! With the Arcosanti Café renovations nearly complete, we're excited to announce the hire of Shawn Kelly as our new Café Manager. An entrepreneur at heart, Shawn hails from New Jersey, where he founded Fine Health Kombucha. He has extensive experience in the worlds of fashion, branding, restaurants, and beverage. He was most recently the kitchen manager for the Mount Madonna Center in California's Santa Cruz Mountains. In his new role, Shawn will be working with Assistant Café Manager Zeb Hornberger and Director of Guest Experience Nikki Check to develop a food program at Arcosanti that reflects the values and ideals of community and arcology. Watch for a grand reopening in the coming weeks. Plan Your Visit

Sign Up Now for Our Spring Speaker Series Building on our 2020 speaker series (which you can revisit on our YouTube channel), we’re excited to be bringing you our 2022 Spring Speaker Series, “Living with the Land Part II: Food in the Desert.” Join us this March and April to explore traditional, modern, and future solutions for creating thriving food systems in both urban and rural desert environments. Featuring active practitioners, thought leaders, and experts in fields from permaculture to rainwater harvesting to indigenous agriculture and more, this series is designed to re-examine and expand our understanding of what it means to live sustainably on and with the land. Several of the speakers are also involved with supporting the revitalization of the agricultural program at Arcosanti itself. This speaker series will take place live at Arcosanti. Tickets are free but seating is limited, so be sure to register early!

Learn More + Register Today

Coming in February: Café Grand Reopening Silt-Casting Workshops Update on the New Orchard Cosanti Foundation in the Media + more!

About The Cosanti Foundation

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 Kate Bemesderfer, Liz Moskowitz, Seth Winslow, and The Cosanti Foundation