Soleri

Soleri is an Italian surname. The most well-known bearer is Paolo Soleri (1919–2013), an Italian-American architect and urban theorist who developed the concept of arcology and founded experimental communities in the American Southwest.

Born in Turin, Soleri studied architecture at the Politecnico di Torino and later emigrated to the United States in 1947, where he worked with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West. He established his own practice in the 1950s and, with his wife, designed and built Cosanti, a residence and studio in Paradise Valley, Arizona, featuring earth-formed concrete structures and a workshop for the production of architectural bells.

In the 1960s Soleri articulated arcology, a portmanteau of architecture and ecology, describing densely populated, ecologically integrated urban environments that minimize resource consumption. He expanded these ideas in Arcology: The City in the Image of Man (1969). The Arcosanti project, begun in 1970 on land adjacent to Cosanti, is an experimental town intended to demonstrate arcology principles through architecture, urban design, and resident life. Arcosanti remains an ongoing project and educational center.

Soleri's work spans built projects, theoretical writing, and experimental crafts, contributing to discussions on sustainability, urban form, and the relationship between people and their habitats. The surname Soleri is of Italian origin; in addition to Paolo Soleri, other individuals bear the name but do not share the same level of public recognition.