6,800 sq. ft.
Performance and Conference Space
Status: Completed
The Amphitheater is surrounded by the East
Crescent housing units to the east, west, and north,
and by the Music Center to the south.
Various
events are held in the outdoor theater though out the year.
The moat around the
stage provides a architectural water feature.
Amphitheater
The Colly Soleri
Amphitheater was completed in 1989. It
hosts a series of public musical events throughout the
summer months, and is occasionally rented out for private
functions. It is the heart of the East
Crescent complex. The canvas canopy currently covering
the amphitheater is temporary; when the surrounding housing
units are complete, a much more spacious and permanent
structure will replace it.
From Paolo Soleri's "Arcology International
Coalition: the 41 Projects"
"It is
one of the edifices which exemplifies and emphasized the
mixed-use proposed by the arcological concept.
Living, producing, performing, and exhibiting in this
case. In its most intense use, the East Crescent will
be an enclave where the performing arts and group activities
will find ways of producing a variety of events
like music, plays, poetry recitals, encounters, conferences
and celebrations.
"While most of the events
will take place on the stage, the surrounding
dwellings (three stories) will permit the participation
of residents to the degree they feel appropriate. If
the
homes become a mix of resident and guest
(see the "pensione" old tradition) and the
residents are not necessarily performing or working
in the performing
arts, then other aspects of living and working might
be part of the enclave.
"One can also forsee periodic
exhibits and markets taking place in the Amphitheater
and spilling over on the semicircular promenade, in the
arcades of the dwellings, onto the terraced and stepped
areas on the south side, including the Sky
Theater. The ground floor of the residences has sufficient
area for living and/or working in the atelier mode.
"Very important for the liveliness of the East
Crescent and for the Critical Mass is that the East
Crescent in toto will not come to life only for brief
hours per week, but that it will
