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PAOLO SOLERI: WHAT IF?, COLLECTED WRITINGS 1986-2000 |
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Inside Cover PAOLO SOLERI, What If?: Collected Writings 1986-2000 Paolo Soleri's What If? Collected Writings 1986-2000 is a meticulously crafted collection of essays, hypotheses and reflections by one of the most provocative and influential architects of the modern era. Encompassing the mature thought of a distinguished career, it is a major contribution to the fields of Urban Design, Architectural Theory, Ecology, Environmental Ethics and related disciplines. It includes thirty-five previously unpublished essays, ranging from observations on the nature of The American Dream to speculations about the ultimate purposes of evolution. Soleri writes as a builder, as a philosopher, as a journalist, as a historian, and, at times, as a prophet, but always with the intelligence, rigor, and originality that are his trademarks. Accompanying the text is an extensive, four-color marginal commentary by Soleri, which emphasizes, illuminates -- and sometimes calls into question -- the arguments presented in the body of the work. Additional sections developed from personal journals, and a detailed glossary, further examine such essential Soleri ideas as Miniaturization, Frugality, "Esthequity," and The Urban Effect. The result is a profound tapestry of reports, analyses, discoveries and ruminations that will serve as stepping-stones to the architectural and social projects of future generations.
PAOLO SOLERI was born in Turin, Italy, in 1919. He came to the U.S. in 1947 to apprentice with Frank Lloyd Wright. Three years later he returned to Italy, where he was commissioned to build the widely acclaimed Ceramica Artistica Solimene in Vietri sul Mare. In 1956 Soleri settled in Arizona, where he has made a lifelong commitment to urban theory and design. Soleri's major project is Arcosanti, a prototype city under construction in Central Arizona, built according to the principoles of "arcology" -- architecture coherent with ecology. Soleri's urban designs have been shown, published and debated widely. National touring exhibitions of his work have been curated by the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the New York Academy of Sciences. He is the author of eight books, including Arcology: The City in the Image of Man and Omega Seed: An Eschatological Hypothesis. Soleri has received two Guggenheim and two Graham Foundation fellowships. He has been awarded three honorary doctorates, and is an Honorary Fellow of hte British Royal Institute of Architects. His long list of awards includes the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal of Craftsmanship, the Gold Medal of the World Biennia of Architecture, the Silver Medal of the French Academie d'Architecture, and, most recently, the Golden Lion Award of the Venice Biennale. Back Cover "Architects are artists who dream the built world into being. We dwell in, walk among, wash our hands in, and stub our toes on the creations of architects in a way that no world of Herman Melville's contains us. Accordingly, we heed the beliefs of architects as the prerequisites of our world. The following pages hold the beliefs of Paolo Soleri." -- Harry Rand, Smithsonian Institution, From the Foreword
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