Arcosanti: The Latest Architecture and News

When Archigram published their fanatical vision for pneumatic cities and walking megastructures in the 1960s, they seemed to be designing buildings. Beneath the surface, the avant-gardeists were pushing culture through radical alternatives to lifestyles and forms of organizing in the city. Laboratories found themselves between the lines of copy on Domus or Casabella magazines, propositions doubling as blueprints for the civilizations to come. From Gropius's Bauhaus in 1919 to Arcosanti's desert experiments in the 1970s, architecture operated as a form of cultural prophecy. Built form was the argument. The drawing was the vision. Today, we live in a world that remarkably resembles what the starchitects of the 1900s imagined - modular construction, interconnected digital cities, and automated systems. Yet contemporary architecture rarely proposes culture with the same totalizing confidence.

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Videos

The Second Studio (formerly The Midnight Charette) is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by Architects David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features different creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions.

A variety of subjects are covered with honesty and humor: some episodes are interviews, while others are tips for fellow designers, reviews of buildings and other projects, or casual explorations of everyday life and design. The Second Studio is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.

This week David and Marina of FAME Architecture & Design discuss the local architecture, adobe buildings, and natural landscapes of the southwest region of the United States. The two cover the role nature has in cities, designing experiences, how architecture can co-exist with the natural landscape, craftsmanship, and more. Destinations included the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico, Monument Valley, Antelope Canyon, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, and Paolo Soleri’s Arcosanti.

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The Architect's Newspaper has learned that the college formerly known as the School of Architecture at Taliesin will change its name and move summer classes to Cosanti and Arcosanti, with plans to try to make Cosanti its permanent home.

The move comes after a protracted back-and-forth with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation that spilled out into public view earlier in January when the school announced it would be closing after 88 years. After an outpouring of support from alumni and funding commitments, the school reversed its vote to close at the beginning of March but will need to vacate both Taliesin campuses—West in Scottsdale Arizona and East in Spring Green, Wisconsin—and can no longer use the Frank Lloyd Wright or Taliesin name, though it will retain its accreditation and students. The last time the school changed its name was in 2017 after it split from the foundation as part of the accreditation process, and after July 31 of this year, any remaining association will be formally severed.