ArcologyCentral.net
Welcome
  • Welcome
    • Bienvenidos
  • About Ar/Cosanti
  • You, Us, It, & Me
    • Arcologia Central y Yo
  • Quaderni
  • Pictures
  • Conversations
  • Blog
  • Contact

The Legacy of Paolo Soleri

4/1/2017

0 Comments

 
PictureAfter the Carbecue. August, 1978

 Paolo Soleri once said that  "virtue and value are to be found beneath the heap of seldom-inspiring ineptitudes."

At the time, I found the phrasing odd but I figured I knew what he meant, Maybe that is why it took me a while to decide it was that odd phrasing, so characteristic of his writing, that largely accounts for why he's been so rarely cited in virtually all serious critical architectural writing..

In 2003, however, after he'd asked me to help him with some writing he was doing, I had a conversation with him that gave me a moment of hope. (Background first, then a quick recap of how it went): 

I'd offered to help him with his writing when I first met him. A mere 51 years later, he took me up on my offer

When I handed him his hard copy after I'd blue penciled it, he sort of gasped in shock after he read it through and saw my markings.

"But that isn't what I wrote!" says he.

"Paolo!" I answer. "You know how when you make drawings for a building, those first sketches you make aren't how that building turns out, they aren't even how the final drawings look? Writing is like that!"

He got it right away, comprehended in a flash - but obviously he'd never thought of it before. Words that fell from his pen, he'd imagined, were cast in stone - or concrete...

After that little talk, I didn't see him let go of a basal faith that his written words were irremediable, but he did his best to let those of us working on his editorial team help him put his ideas into plainer English. Everyone on publications knew that anything he wrote, no matter its subject, would be at best a sliver of an echo of the voice in his drawings, but we darned well saw it mostly through a speculative lens: Its prismatic cultural distortion examines ideas of evolutionary and philosophic approaches to an architectural comprehension.

T
he reason I'm bringing this up now is that Italy will honor the "virtue and value" of its native son's legacy as a year-long event in 2019. Only 2 years away!

2019 is the year of what would have been his 100th birthday. What I wonder is what Arconauts around the globe can/will do to honor/express their stake in his indomitable will to design and construct the spectacular geometries he envisioned for ArCosanti?

What can they do to express themselves in that place? What have they retained of it? What would they like to have back from it? What needs to be done to make living there agreeable for themselves?

I'm aggressive about this, likely, being one of those whose kinaesthetic sensibility underwent an immediate transformation when first I encountered the constructions of his original atelier, Cosanti. "All The World's A Stage" was suddenly Buddhist insight.

Retaining connections counts. I blog here to emphasize that the visibility of place sensory experience shared with other earth-inhabitants is what makes me want us to share its stories. Because its stories are our stories, I want to know
  • Who we are
  • Where we come from
  • What drives us
  • When did we?
  • Why?
  • HOW WAS IT FOR US?

Where to begin?

I'm starting where I am, starting from where I am, too.

What I do here is a story of mine own. There's a Forum page on this site,
 the Conversations page. It needs a co-administrator or 12! Doesn't matter where you are, Just offer your thoughts, leave comments,wax on. COME ON, WARRIOR CLASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What about at least one Social Media Monitor? Someone with a get-directly-involved in the conservation conversation who'd help preserve focus, maintain composure, provide a safe container for everyone and still "let it rip" when it's time to see what'll happen. And when whatever happens, happens, people will take it from there, right?

What think you?

Flag Counter
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Title

    Picture
Photos used under Creative Commons from FaceMePLS, nedrichards, qtschlepper, M_Schimmel, fihu, Abulic Monkey, Space][rucker, David Jones, --Sam--, saamiblog, hr.icio, robertkillmer, Vanderelbe.de, runran, Melody Ayres-Griffiths, BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives, LoopZilla, Space][rucker, Cambridge Cat, Tomás Fano, Jonathan Lumibao, srqpix, exfordy, a minha menina, Piano Piano!, loufi, Gwydion M. Williams, TheeErin, Jo Naylor, Ben Sutherland, ratanx, Rome Cabs, tara marie, Joe Shlabotnik, Chrissy Olson, Mavroudis Kostas, postal67, Ryan Dickey, Amanda Niekamp, Paulimus J - moved to: ipernity.com/home/paulj, qtschlepper, qtschlepper, Arria Belli, gedankenstuecke, qtschlepper, Wolfgang Staudt, exfordy, OakleyOriginals, bixentro, 드림포유, RileyOne, kuhnmi