Welcome back to the participants of DIFFERENT SKIES electronic music festival for their 8th annual gathering.

A group of international experimental musicians meets for a week of intensive composing and rehearsals, culminating in a concert at the Colly Soleri Amphitheatre this coming Saturday, October 2, 2010. The entire performance will be created within this week.

This years participants are: Russel Foster, Bill Fox, Tony Gerber, Brian Good, Greg Hurley, John Krikawa, John McMahon, event organizer Mike Metlay, Otso Pakarinen from Finland, Kim Petersen from Danmark, Giles Reaves, Nick Rothwell from England, Ivan Schwartz, Paul Vnuk Jr and Allen Goodman.

You do not want to miss this, this concert is definitely one of the highlights in our Music Center schedule.

For more information about the Different Skies concert please visit www.differentskies.com or call Arcosanti at 1-928-632-7135.

The south bays of the Visitors Center Gallery have been remodeled.
The south-west corner now contains the Arcosanti Master Plan model, as well as some new graphics.

Three resident artists display their artwork in the space against the west wall, Linda Fournier's precious stone jewelry, stone and metal sculpture by Cliff Hersted and for the first time, ceramic bowls by Scott Reily.

Some of the cabinets were moved to the south wall and framed posters reorganized.

The east side of the southeast bay was painted a dark green to enhance the viewing experience of the introductory video for visitors.
On the south side is a new display of some Lean Linear City (Arterial Arcology) graphics.

Throughout the hot Arizona summer the High Tunnel Greenhouse was covered with a lightweight "Aluminet" shade cloth.

Nate Hodgson is taking care of planting and harvesting, as well as daily chores in the greenhouse. Most of all Nate has put together the ventilation and watering system. Here he reads up on greenhouse lore.

Harvest from the greenhouse has been a wonderful addition to the public cafe menu, as well to for the residents of Arcosanti. Organic tomatoes, salad greens, chard, melons, cucumbers and basil have been the main items.

As fall has started the shade cloth is removed and will be stored until the beginning of summer next year. Here we see Nate in the back, Dave Tollas and workshop participant Matt Cornwell. Matt has been working with Nate throughout his workshop to learn all about this greenhouse.

This continues our report from 9/20/10.

The construction crew built the forms for two stair cases from the first to the second level of the terrace.

David Tollas with volunteers Paolo Van Erp and Bruce Ford, and workshopper William Mazerat at the left staircase. The form was filled with concrete, from the bottom up.

The August 28. 2010 workshop participants got into the action with the staircase on the right of the bottom slab.

Here we see workshoppers Giuseppina Scuffi from Italy, Matt Cornwell, Ruoyu "Raven" Chen from China and Trine Christinsen from Denmark, at their first experience of finishing concrete.

This continues our report from 9/20/10.

The construction crew built the forms for two stair cases from the first to the second level of the terrace.

David Tollas with volunteers Paolo Van Erp and Bruce Ford, and workshopper William Mazerat at the left staircase. The form was filled with concrete, from the bottom up.

The August 28. 2010 workshop participants got into the action with the staircase on the right of the bottom slab.

Here we see workshoppers Giuseppina Scuffi from Italy, Matt Cornwell, Ruoyu "Raven" Chen from China and Trine Christinsen from Denmark, at their first experience of finishing concrete.

This continues our report from 9/17/2010.

For a concrete pour, everyone is assigned specific tasks. Here are just a few; Workshopper William Mazerat from France is carefully bringing wheel barrows full of concrete to this next section of slab.

Workshop participant from Germany, Eva Bauerle, is adjusting the metal mesh to place it into proper position, as the concrete is poured into the form.

Italian workshopper Marina Cogliani uses a shovel to distribute the concrete into the form.

Planning intern Alex Dahlman uses a 2x4 to screed the concrete at the right height.

More on the construction of the Energy Apron terraces on 9/22/2010.

This continues the report from 9/15/2010.

Energy Apron Project Manager David Tollas gives a progress report to Paolo Soleri and Mary Hoadley as Marina Cogliani and Rebecca Robinson look on.

David and Paolo looked at the precast retaining planter wall in place and discussed the pros and cons of the design and options to simplify it.

A section of the lower slab is ready for casting.

This shows a column footing that will be cast with the slab. Reinforcing bars will project vertically for a column.

This continues the report from 9/13/2010.

Under direction, workshop participants mixed about 1.5 yards of concrete, for the second level walkway of the energy apron.

[in the photo from left] Construction staff Jeff Buderer, workshop participants Rebecca Robinson from England, Marina Cogliani from Italy and Youngho Cho from Korea.

The internationally diverse workshop, participants from seven different countries, had the opportunity to learn about the many steps involved in pouring concrete.

[in the photo from left] Workshop participants Youngho Cho from Korea, Eva Bauerle from Germany, Roberta Sassone from Italy, William Mazerat from France and construction staff Nathan Hodgson.

Here we can see some of the different steps; two people are distributing concrete, and others are screeding the concrete surface with a two-by-four.

[in the photo from left] Workshoppers Rebecca Robinson from England, Eva Bauerle from Germany, Roberta Sassone from Italy, construction staff Nathan Hodgson and Marina Cogliani from Italy.

Construction volunteer Paolo Van Erp uses a magnesium float to finish the slab.

This continues the report from 9/8/2010.

The form work was completed, for the first level of the energy apron greenhouse.

Our mixer truck delivered the concrete that was batched by our on-site plant.

As the freshly cast slab is screeded off, Angus Gluck works on the slab to give the initial finish with a magnesium float [bull float].

The finished slab measures 12 feet wide x 40 feet long.
Sealer has been applied to allow the slab to cure gradually.

You can see more images of this pour on the August 25. 2010 report.

The 29th Annual Colly Concert was held at the Colly Soleri Music Center Amphitheater on Saturday, September 4.

This event honors the memory of Colly Woods Soleri, Paolo Soleri's wife. Together, they founded the Cosanti Foundation whose major project has been the building of Arcosanti. Colly was an avid supporter of art and cultural events here during her lifetime and the tradition has carried on through the Colly Soleri Music Center’s Concert Season, which continues to bring excellent music to the high desert.

The evening started with tours of Arcosanti and wine and cheese in the Colly Garden before the concert.

This year Vadim Serebryany joined Sonya Kumiko Lee to play four handed classical piano works by Mozart, Debussy, Chopin and Brahms.

Sonya Lee has garnered a reputation amongst audiences as a pianist who plays in “the grand Romantic tradition, with flawless technique, a marvelous variety of colors, and exquisite phrasing.” Ms. Lee has been touted as a cross-cultural ambassador of Classical music for students in other disciplines of the performing arts and has given numerous lectures and performances at New York University’s Drama Department.

Vadim Serebryany has been acclaimed by audiences and critics on five continents for his sensitive and intelligent music making. In recent seasons Mr. Serebryany has embarked on many interesting and challenging projects, including performing the complete Beethoven sonatas for piano and violin, as well as presenting various solo and chamber works of the Second Viennese School composers in creative programs.

Dinner after the concert featured Soleri family favorites prepared by visiting chefs, Paolo and Colly’s daughter Kristine Soleri Timm, her husband Joel and their son Julian.

We continue our report from 9/7/2010 on construction of a part of the energy apron.

This first level of the Energy Apron was the main construction project for the July 25. 2010 workshop participants.

The workshop is excavating the first terrace.

The lower slab grade has been set and the crew is placing reinforcing wire mesh for the concrete slab.
This is the last step of preparation and on 9/13/2010 we will report on the pour of this slab.

Planning Coordinator for the energy apron construction, Nadia Begin, explains the function of the survey equipment to planning intern Alex Dahlman.

The site to be surveyed is the slope below the Guestrooms.

Alex sets up the builder's level to survey the slope of the planned terraces.

The retaining walls of the planters are made of thin fiber-reinforced concrete modules, precast on the ground and tilted up into place.

A backhoe excavates the ground for the lower level planter-terraces and widens the road for more parking spaces.

This report continues on 9/8/2010.

Welcome to the August 28. 2010 workshop participants.

[back from left]:
Trine Christinsen from Denmark, Matt Cornwell and Steffan Phillips.

[front from left]:
Giuseppina Scuffi from Italy, Ruoyu "Raven" Chen from China [workshop and internship in planning], Emily Mines [seminar week].

Congratulations to the July 2010 graduating workshop participants!!

[Back from left]
Youngho Cho from Korea, Bruce Ford (scholarship), Marina Cogliani from Italy and William Mazerat from France.

[Front from left]
Rebecca Robinson from England, MARINA SAPUNOVA from Russia, Eva Bauerle from Germany and Matthew Poot (scholarship).

Also 3 year-old Sasha, participant in all things at Arcosanti.

Thanks for all your hard work in construction, landscaping, recycling and the cafe. Special thanks to Marina Sapunova, who worked in the Archives. We so much enjoyed your reports for Today@Arcosanti!