This continues 5/27/09 report on the second series of 3D renderings of the plans for CRITICAL MASS at Arcosanti. [first series was published 4/3 and 4/6/09]

TEILHARD DE CHARDIN CLOISTER. The Teilhard de Chardin Cloister is a conference and housing facility located immediately south of the East Crescent. Twelve small housing units will be built along the top of the cloister, with an open air theater below. The rendering shows the theater view. Profiles of the people in the rendering represent current Arcosanti residents and some alumni. Photos were taken and photo montaged by Alfonso Elia and Youngsoo Kim.

ARCOMEDIA. Two large basilicas with concave and convex shape on the west and east side of the Teilhard de Chardin cloister are called Arcomedia. Galleries and the new Soleri Archive will be located in Arcomedia. The interior space with the natural light is represented in the rendering.
CRITICAL MASS is the first 'major phase' of development of Arcosanti. It is planned to be a town of 500 to 600 people who will live and work, study, and/or visit. This will be the staging ground for the subsequent larger development of Paolo Soleri's most recent design for Arcosanti, Arcosanti 5000.
The next report within this series will continue with the third phase of these renderings, which will include realistic photo montages.
3D models and renderings for this report were produced by the planning department design team, Alfonso Elia, Youngsoo Kim and Graphics Intern Stephano Massa.

The Arcosasnti 3D Model project (A3DM) is in its development process by the planning department. The following renderings represent the second phase of the project: renderings based on human eye perspective.
The previous daily progress report [see April 3. and 6. 2009] showed the first phase, bird eye shots of each building.
PIZZA PIAZZA. The Pizza Piazza with its large apse will contain foundry and ceramics production area, a visitor center and gallery, a pizza parlor, and three floors of residential and hotel units. The Piazza as a public space is covered and surrounded by the apse and the residential units are shown in the rendering.

ENERGY APRON. The main feature of the Energy Apron is the incline of the topography. The membrane that produces the greenhouse effect is thus covering a series of large terraces on which vegetables, herbs and fruits will be cultivated. In the rendering, the interior is viewed from the west towards the east of the Energy Apron.
3D models and renderings for this report were produced by the planning department design team, Alfonso Elia, Youngsoo Kim and Graphics Intern Stephano Massa.

Welcome to the May 17. 2009 workshop participants:

[back from left]
Charles "Chip" Duggan,
Robert Graddy,
Jeffrey McInturff [2 weeks],
Alan Kinkaid and Ron Miller [seminar week],
and Matthew Blunderfield.

[front from left]
Rocio Montefiori,
Riccardo Campanella and Erica Bazzini [workshop and internship in planning & graphics], Erin Lindquist [2 weeks], Maria Cabrera, Silvia Motori, Induja Lakshmi [workshop and internship in planning], and Kwun Sau Chiu [workshop and internship in the archives].
Not in the photo, also part of this workshop is Allen M. "Brook" McCullogh.

Paolo Van Erp arrived for the second week of the April 12. 2009 workshop and this seminar week completed his 5-week program.
Paolo Van Erp is the son of alumnus Peter Van Erp [1976-1979] and alumna Chiara Romano Van Erp [1977+1979]. Peter and Chiara met at Arcosanti and were married here in 1980.

This continues the report on installation of lighting along the new Visitors' Center pathway.
Construction crew-leader Dr. Sparks instructs workshop-participants on the installation of electrical lines and light fixtures. In the top images, workshop-participants are splicing wires, which are later connected with the help of heat treatment (bottom left photo). At last, the fixtures are anchored in the ground.

The light fixtures are then connected to a bank of solar panels.

The solar panels were graciously donated by PTL [Photovoltaic Testing Laboratory], which is a part of Arizona State University.
[see prior reports about installation of the solar panels in February and March 2008].

The solar light fixtures were purchased from "Nightscaping", Los Angeles, CA.
Thank you, Kevin Smith of Nightscaping, for your help.

Efforts continue to complete this new visitors center entrance. Steel railings for the new staircases are in the process of being cut and welded into place, and new sign are still to be installed.

This is the first of two reports on the lighting installation along the new Visitors' Center pathway.
Construction crew-leader Dr. Sparks and workshop-participant Maryah Smith-Overmann review the plans for the new light fixtures.

In a synergy with hands-on building experience, the workshop and construction crew worked together to clear the trenches for the electrical lines.

The 'crew'.

This report continues on 5/22/09.

This continues our report on the ongoing construction of a new handicap-accessible pathway for the Visitors' Center at Arcosanti.
Workshop-participants assisted the construction and landscaping crew during the concrete pour of a staircase and a slab.
The lower section of this staircase was cast earlier, see report from May 8. 2009.
This pour completes the staircase and the slab that connects it to the ramp.
In the top right photo, crew-leader Brent Scott, and a workshop-participant are fastening a guide for the formwork. To the right, concrete is poured and leveled into the formwork. In the bottom photos, you see some of the detail work for the pour. To the left, Marco Tilocca is using an edger to round up the corners of the slab, and to the right, Andrew Woodard is setting in spacers for the posts of the future railings.

Later, the slab is given a final smoothing with an aluminum bow-float. After some time, water under pressure is sprayed on the concrete, so that the top layer of cement washes away, and the staircase and slab will have a coarser surface for better traction.

Finally, a sealer is sprayed on concrete.
This report continues on 5/20/09 with installation of lighting along the new ramp.

Congratulations to the participants from the April 12. 2009 Workshop!

Graduating the five-week program are: [from left to right]
Daniel Anderson,
Julie-Anne Ketchum,
Laurence Chave,
Edward Cassan, Marco Tilocca, Frédérick Michaud,
Rick Peterson, Dongock Park,
Maryah Smith-Overman,
Gen Yamamura,
Myeonghak Sung,
Paolo van Erp, and Alison Gross
(not in the photo).

Six people are staying at Arcosanti after their workshop. Julie, Gen and Rick will join the Construction team, and Laurence, Frédérick and Daniel will be doing an internship in the Graphics department.

150 students, teachers and parents from Copperwood Elementary School visited Arcosanti for an extensive tour.
The first stop was a tour of the Bronze Foundry, where Arcosanti Public Relations Erin Jeffries explained the bronze bell production process to the whole group.

The group then moved to the amphitheater for a talk on “What is Arcosanti all about”. After this the students split up into smaller groups and visited the individual buildings with their tour guides.
Many schools visit Arcosanti to learn about our mission.
Our guides tailor the tours to elementary, middle or highschool level information. Some classes come for a tour only; some schools have annual visits with overnight stays and workshops on site.
For more information please contact our Guest Services Carri Krueger.

This past Saturday, May 9, 2009, three-time Grammy Nominee William Eaton returned to Arcosanti to performed under the Arcosanti Vaults. As the full moon dramatically rose in the evening light, Eaton filled the Vaults and Canyon with the luscious sounds of his hand-built string instrument.

The concert followed the customary site tour and a dinner of Roasted Corn Soup, Full Moon Talapia, BBQ Tofu, Guacamole, Rice Stuffed Peppers, Fresh Salad and Ice Cream for Dessert.

William Eaton was accompanied by accomplished virtuoso flutist Claudia Tulip and for a few pieces, his daughter joined the performance with guitar and song.

WILLIAM EATON
Acknowledged as one of the world’s great designers and builders of unique guitars, Eaton is the current director of the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix, Arizona, a guitar making school he co-founded with John Roberts and Robert Venn in 1975. An innovative artist, Eaton has composed for and performed solo and with his own group the William Eaton Ensemble, the Electric Harp Guitar Group (a unique trio that plays Eaton designed harp guitars), the Amadeus Trio, Nouveau West Chamber Orchestra, and the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra. His recording career includes three GRAMMY Nominations, two NAMMY awards, and album of the year (for “Ananeah”) by the New Age Reporter magazine. With Canyon Records, Eaton has collaborated with world renowned Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai on seven albums and has released five recordings on the Canyon label with the William Eaton Ensemble including Where Rivers Meet, earning a Billboard Critic’s Choice, and Sparks and Embers, which garnered top ten play list recognition in the “World Music” category in Japan and Canada in the spring of 2006 and was named an essential top 25 album on the syndicated radio program Echoes for 2006.

CLAUDIA TULIP
Classically trained, jazz influenced, and world music inspired, Claudia performs on silver and ethnic flutes. She has written for ensembles, dance companies, theatre and video and has performed at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Estes Park Folk Festival and on Good Morning America. Recording credits include her flute album Migrations and albums by William Eaton, Chris Spheeris, Sharon Burch, and Ani Williams. Tulip studied the nationally renowned children’s music program Music Together with founder Ken Guilmartin and now directs her own center, Music Together of Scottsdale.

Today, we report on the concrete-pour of a staircase for the new Visitors' Entrance pathway for Arcosanti.
Before the concrete is poured, a reinforcing mesh is made out of rebar. The grey surface under the rebar is a slurry sprayed on the ground in order to enhance the rigidity of the concrete.

The collaged photos show the sequence of the pour. In the top left photo, the rebar, slurry and sides of the formwork are ready. The top right photo shows the attached formwork for the risers of the staircase. In the bottom photos, the Construction crew is filling in the concrete and smoothing out the surface with aluminum and steel trowels.

In this photo, Landscaping Coordinator, Ron Chandler is washing off the top layer of cement with a hose and a brush, so that the staircase will have an exposed aggregate surface.
Next week, we will have another report on the pour of this staircase.

The current workshop participants visited TALIESIN-WEST.
[from left] Daniel Anderson, Maryah Smith-Overman, Gen Yamamura, Alison Gross, Julie-Anne Ketchum, Marco Tilocca, Edward Cassan, Frédérick Michaud, Laurence Chave, Dongock Park, Myeonghak Sung, Rick Peterson and Paolo Van Erp.
Paolo Van Erp is the son of alumnus Peter Van Erp [1976-1979] and alumna Chiara Romano Van Erp [1977+1979]. Peter and Chiara were married under the Vaults at Arcosanti in 1980.
In front of Rick is Cosanti Foundation Director Mary Hoadley.

On Sunday, May 3. 2009, the BALLET ACADEMY OF ARIZONA first annual “Spring Fling Extravaganza” took place at Arcosanti.
Students from Ballet Academy of Arizona Dancers, from Leap of Faith Dance School in Phoenix and dancers from Northern Arizonal University ranged in age from 3 years through 18 years old.
Dancers and their families arrived at Arcosanti for lunch in the Vaults.

Performances took place in the Colly Soleri Amphitheater.
The event was hosted by The Ballet Academy of Arizona Dancers.
The Ballet Academy has been teaching ballet in Phoenix for just over 2 years and has just had a very successful production of the “Nutcracker” at the Orpheum Theater on December 30. and 31. December.

AGUA FRIA OPEN SPACE ALLIANCE is hosting a conference at Arcosanti tomorrow, Saturday, May 2. 2009. This is their third annual conference and it opens at
7:30 am with a Bird Walk led by Chuck Richards of the Sonoran Audubon Society.

Morning presentations explore the "Best of the Basin: Rare Plants, Animals & Habitats of the Agua Fria Basin".
Speakers and panel members include:
Garry F. Rogers, AFOSA president
Sally Hess-Samuelson, Prescott National Forrest planner
Walt Anderson, Prescott College faculty
Tice Supplee, Audubon Arizona conservation director
and Andrew Salywon, Dixie Damrel and Wendy Hogson from Desert Botanical Garden.

Following a break for lunch, the conference closes with an early afternoon Agua Fria River Hike led by Arcosanti staff Cliff Hersted with field elucidations provided by program presenters.
Everyone is welcome at this free, experimental and educational public event.
For more information call Garry Rogers at 928 925-7191 or visit Agua Fria Open Space web-site.