Biography

Born in 1919 in Turin, Italy, Paolo Soleri spent his earliest years absorbing the European landscape, culture, and architecture. He was awarded his Ph.D. with highest honors in architecture from the Torino Polytechnico in 1946, and soon after he moved to the United States

to attend Frank Lloyd Wright's apprenticeship program at Taliesin West in Arizona. During this time, he gained international recognition for a bridge design displayed at the Museum of Modern Art and published in The Architecture of Bridges by Elizabeth Mock.

Soleri returned to Italy in 1950 where he was commissioned to build a large ceramics factory, Ceramica Artistica Solimene, which recently became an Italian historical landmark. The processes he became familiar with in the ceramics industry led to his award-winning designs of ceramic and bronze windbells and siltcast architectural structures. For over fifty years, the proceeds from the windbells have provided the major source of funding for the construction that would test his theoretical work.

Together with his wife Colly and their two daughters, Kristine and Daniela, Soleri moved to Scottsdale, Arizona in 1956. There they established the not-for-profit Cosanti Foundation, and began work on the group of buildings that bears the same name, Cosanti. It is at Cosanti where Soleri began his initial architectural experiments with various earth-casting techniques.

In 1970, Paolo Soleri embarked on his most ambitious work, Arcosanti. Located in the high desert of central Arizona, Arcosanti is being constructed as a prototype arcology. Arcosanti is a materialization of arcology theoretics; the site embodies Soleri's vision for a sustainable urban alternative. Since it's inception in 1970, the design, development, and construction of Arcosanti has been at the center of Soleri's life and work.

Soleri's work has been the subject of numerous worldwide exhibitions. A landmark exhibition, The Architectural Visions of Paolo Soleri, organized in 1970 by the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, traveled extensively in the U.S. and Canada. Two Suns Arcology, A Concept for Future Cities opened at the Xerox Square Center in Rochester, New York, in 1976. In 1989 Paolo Soleri Habitats: Ecologic Minutiae, an exhibition of arcologies, space habitats, and bridges, was presented at the New York Academy of Sciences. In 2005, Soleri was the subject of three major exhibitions presented concurrently at three separate museums in Rome, Italy, titled Paolo Soleri: Ethics and Urban Inventiveness.

Soleri has received one fellowship from the Graham Foundation and two from the Guggenheim Foundation. He has been awarded three honorary doctorate degrees; the American Institute of Architects Craftsmanship Medal for Excellence in Design (1963); the Gold Medal of the World Biennale of Architecture in Sofia, Bulgaria (1981); the Silver Medal of L'Academie d'Architecture in Paris, France (1984); and the Golden Lion Award at La Bienale di Venizia in Venice, Italy (2000). Most recently, he was awarded the 2006 Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Today, Soleri divides his time between Arcosanti and Cosanti. He has written six books and numerous essays and monographs, and he continues his work with architectural commissions, speaking engagements, exhibitions, and further contributions to Quaderni, a series of philosophical writings. His most recent arcology design, titled Solere: Lean Linear City, is featured in Quaderno 9.