Friday, April 16, 2010

Cosanti



On April 4, '10 I did a post on Arcosanti and now I want to write 
about Cosanti which is located near Scottsdale, Arizona 
and is where Paolo Soleri lives and works.


 If Arcosanti is an urban laboratory then Cosanti is the lab for that. 
Soleri has lived here since the '50's and it is where he first developed
 some of the techniques for working with preformed and cast in place concrete.


Above is the shop where they sell the bells that are cast 
in the foundry on site. It is the bells that create the income 
for Soleri to develop his ideas for building with concrete.
Much of the area here is set into the earth with lots of trees
which must help moderate the intense desert heat.




And concrete, in all forms, is everywhere.
 I would assume the above and below is cast in place.


And there are bells everywhere.




Another cooling technique.


The forms in the concrete are made in sand 
and dry pigment is added before the pour.






I am not sure how the round sections were done,
 probably they were precast.


For more on Cosanti check out the posting from April 6, '10
 that our friend Joanna did in her blog Up On Haliburton Hill.
 You can find it on the side bar here also.


Another cooling technique.


This wall must have been precast and set into place. 
The blue really stands out.