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Showing posts with the label Soleri

Jun Kaneko / Desert Botanical Garden

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Jun Kaneko at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix
The exhibition includes a series of monumental sculptures by Kaneko.





Sun Dial with a Soleri bell


The Kaneko exhibition runs until May 18th
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AFASE Solar House / Scottsdale

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Solar House (1957) by Peter Lee


In 1954, a group of Arizona politicians, business leaders and Arizona State University joined forces with the Stanford Research Institute to form the Association for Applied Solar Energy (AFASE). The mission was to promote research and investment in solar energy. They held symposiums, exhibitions and sponsored architecture and design competitions. 

This included a 1957 competition called Living with the Sun. Architects submitted designs for a solar house that would be built in Phoenix. Concepts were submitted by Paolo Soleri, Victor Olgyay, Davis, Brody and Wisniewski, and Leland Lewis Evison. The prize-winning design was awarded toUniversity of Minnesota School of Architecture senior, Peter Lee. 

Image: ASU via A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War by Daniel A. Barber
Image: ASU via A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War by Daniel A. Barber
Lee was a student of Ralph Rapson, who was the De…
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Soleri / Daniela

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I used to half-jokingly refer to Paolo Soleri as "Saint Soleri." I have even spent Christmas at Arcosanti a couple times. His work is some of my favorite; whether it's the sculptures I live with, his architecture I visit over and over again, or the bells which have become my personal litmus test of whether someone is truly "in the know" of good design and architecture. It turns out he was far from a saint. 
Image: The Guardian
Daniela Soleri, Paolo's daughter shared her story of abuse on Medium:
I used to dream the same thing over and over. I am a child at home, and there in our living room is my father, Paolo Soleri, in a large cage, fuming. We, my mother and sister and I, quietly hand paper, pencils, crayons and charcoal to him through the bars, or we hand in clay, or Styrofoam and a woodburning tool, or large flat trays of moist, densely packed silt with knives to carve it, powders and washes to color it. He draws, forms, carves, shoving the beautiful resul…
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Paolo Soleri / HBD

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Happy Birthday Paolo

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Weekend /Stuff

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Bulmore and Kurt Versen on Japanese tables
The build quality of Bulmore lamps is incredible. This thing is so heavy! Dudley Bulmore and his son Robert ran the San Francisco company.
Jun Kaneko cup
Japanese metal
Soleri special assembly bell
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Dome House / Soleri Mills

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The Dome House, 1949, in Cave Creek Arizona, by Paolo Soleri and Mark Mills. Both were former apprentices under  Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West.  The house was commissioned by Lenora Woods, who would soon become Paolo's mother-in-law. I've been near the house in the past. However, this time I wasn't just snooping. Docomomo hosted a tour, which was led by Director of Paolo Soleri Studios, Roger Tomalty. Source: Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute
The ribs of the dome were constructed with war surplus materials.
Source: Paolo Soleri at Dome House
Source: Soleri: Architecture as Human Ecology by Antonietta Iolanda Lima
The initial design had an opaque section that was manually rotated for shade.At some point the rotating mechanism broke, so the top has been modified to shield the sun. The cooler was added and now doesn't function. It would be great to see it removed. 


Source: Julius Shulman © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute
This was w…
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