Learn by Doing at Arcosanti
The principle of learning by doing has guided Arcosanti since the beginning in 1970. Come learn in an immersive environment unlike anywhere else. You’ll connect to the inspiring landscape of Arizona and the unique architecture, all while learning new skills and helping create our community.
Arcosanti is an urban experiment that practices sustainable living through arcology, architecture + ecology, which seeks to exemplify how humane cities can exist with respect toward the surrounding natural habitat.
Please explore our options below. If you have any questions or to request more information please email workshop@arcosanti.org
Workshops
We are offering three workshops focusing on natural construction, archives, and land stewardship/sustainable technology.
Construction
Experiment and build using natural earth technology. Participants learn how to work with natural materials such as clay, sand, rock, and reed to construct rock walls, cob bricks, rammed earth, reed screens, and clay plaster. After a week of material study and exploration, each participant draws designs of how to construct an architectural intervention through natural means.
Archives Workshop
Discover and document past work for posterity, including art, sketches, text documents, construction documents, architectural models, drawings, and photographs. Facilities include an environment-controlled archives unit with digitizing methods, storage areas, and virtual reality simulations. The archives is the largest repository of arcology thought and design, where we help pass the legacy of The Cosanti Foundation to the next generation of archivists.
Land Stewardship & Sustainable Technology
Learn how to steward land and sustainably manage water in a desert. Become inspired by the desert landscape around you and learn how to work with this natural ecosystem. Combine both theory and practice in an enjoyable, enriching experience.
Our Experience Programs
In these single day or weekend programs, participants learn a variety practices and crafts through hands-on experience.
Casting Cosanti: an Interactive Silt-Casting Experience
Cosanti, Paradise Valley
Join us at Cosanti in Paradise Valley for a unique workshop opportunity which combines artistic expression informed by the desert with an exploration of our innovative and experimental historic site, precursor to the well-known urban laboratory of Arcosanti.
Students of this workshop will participate in a hands-on plaster casting exercise to get a feel for the desert soil and create a personal keepsake using the same techniques which enabled the construction of Cosanti itself. We will discuss the composition, decoration, and utility of silt molds, the interface between positive and negative form, and the artistic capabilities of that most flexible medium – the earth itself. Each student will then have the chance to design, pigment, and excavate their own plaster tile using the skills they learn and their own artistic intuition.
Tile-Making Experience
Cosanti, Paradise Valley
In this hands-on class, you will learn the exceptional tile making and design process developed by The Cosanti Foundation and used every day by the artisans of Cosanti Originals to make our popular ceramic tiles. As a participant, you will have the opportunity to mold and imprint your own one-of-a-kind ceramic tile. This process involves using clay and water to create your tile, so come prepared to get your hands dirty.
Please note that this class is only available at our Phoenix-area location, Cosanti in Paradise Valley, not at Arcosanti in Mayer.
Clay Pit-Firing Weekend
Arcosanti, Mayer
Learn and participate in an ancient form of firing pottery that uses natural materials and requires no gas or electricity during this two-day program. You choose a small pre-made (bisque) clay vessel to decorate with different colorants, as well as learn the process of burnishing surfaces on some leather hard clay. In the evening, all participants share a group dinner followed by a short presentation on the history of pit firing, particularly its significance in indigenous communities of the Southwest.
You’ll be able to take home your decorated, burnished, and fired vessel with you.
Bell-Making Experience
Arcosanti, Mayer
In this hands-on experience, you will learn the unique silt-cast bell-making process developed by The Cosanti Foundation and used every day by the artisans of Cosanti Originals to make our world-famous ceramic windbells. As a participant, you will have the opportunity to cast and carve your own one-of-a-kind ceramic bell. This process involves using clay and dirt to create your bell, so come prepared to get your hands dirty.
Casting Cosanti: an Interactive Silt-Casting Experience
River Habitat Restoration Weekends at Arcosanti
Cosanti, Paradise Valley
Arcosanti, Mayer
Join us at Cosanti in Paradise Valley for a unique workshop opportunity which combines artistic expression informed by the desert with an exploration of our innovative and experimental historic site, precursor to the well-known urban laboratory of Arcosanti.
Students of this workshop will participate in a hands-on plaster casting exercise to get a feel for the desert soil and create a personal keepsake using the same techniques which enabled the construction of Cosanti itself. We will discuss the composition, decoration, and utility of silt molds, the interface between positive and negative form, and the artistic capabilities of that most flexible medium – the earth itself. Each student will then have the chance to design, pigment, and excavate their own plaster tile using the skills they learn and their own artistic intuition.
Help Us Restore a Riparian Habitat on Two Volunteer Weekends: Feb. 8-9 or March 1-2!
Join us at Arcosanti this winter for a weekend restoring a riparian habitat! We will harvest poles from native cottonwood and willow trees and plant them along the Agua Fria river.
In Arizona, rivers and riparian habitat make up less than 2% of the land area but support 90% of Arizona’s biodiversity. A lush oasis in the otherwise arid desert, riparian habitats provide food, shelter, breeding and wintering habitat, and migration corridors to Arizona wildlife and to migrating species such as the endangered monarch butterfly and the yellow-billed cuckoo.
This volunteer opportunity is part of our work as an ecosystem restoration community. Click here to learn more about ERC
Event and Program Refund Policy
Workshops and Educational Programs: In the event that a participant must cancel registration, the program fee will be refunded IN FULL up until 2 weeks before the first date of scheduled program date(s). Refunds requested less than 2 weeks before the first date of the scheduled program will be refunded at 50% or, applied IN FULL to a future program held during the same calendar year. Refunds requested on or after the first date of the scheduled program are not eligible for a refund.
Public Programs and Performances: Ticket-holders may request a refund up until 1 week before the scheduled performance or program date; EventBrite, our ticketing platform, reserves the right to charge a nominal fee for issuing a refund. Refunds requested less than one week of the scheduled performance or after a performance or program has taken place are not eligible for a refund.
Special Circumstance Cancellations: For single-day programs and public programs that The Cosanti Foundation is forced to cancel due to low enrollment or ticket sales, extraordinary or unforeseen circumstances, or acts of god, registrants and ticket-holders will be notified via email and receive a refund IN FULL.
Private Events: Refunds for the cancellation of private events are subject to the terms and conditions stated in the individual contractual agreements between the event organizer and The Cosanti Foundation.
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