Architecture – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

Details From Arcosanti

Paolo Solari’s Timeless Vision of a human environment

June 1, 2021May 28, 2021 MichaelStephenWills6 Comments

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Paolo Soleri passed away eight years ago, April 9, 2013 at the age of 93. I was fortunate to attend a University of Arizona lecture by Dr. Soleri in the 1970’s. He was at the height of his accomplishments that afternoon and for an hour we vicariously shared his vision and philosophy. What most impressed me was Dr. Soleri’s openness and humanity. Solari’s vision was of an architecture of a dense occupation of humanity that has a minimal environmental impact, Arcology was the term he coined for this idea. I remembered that hour and Arcosanti, his desert village north of Phoenix since then.

Thirty years later my personal project of reconnecting to the University of Arizona brought me for the first time to Arcosanti. In that time, Dr. Soleri’s trained thousands of students and his desert village grew slowly. Arcosanti is now a vision that achieved a center while events which seemed to pass it by, actually are stones with the strength of Dr. Solari’s ideas and humanity.

Here is a sampling of architectural details from Arcosanti, a place that is real enough and quite charming. To find the site, head north on US Route 17 in Phoenix, travel about 67 miles to Cordes Lakes and take Arcosanti Road to the site.

Pam Checking Her Equipment prior to our visit the summer of 2008.

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Entrance and a Tower of the Crafts III building

Ceramics Apse Sand Cast Panels I

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Ceramics Apse Sand Cast Panels II

Ceramics Apse Sand Cast Panels III

Bell and Panel from the Colly Soleri Amphitheater

Bell Casting was and continues to be a major source of income.

View from the East Housing complex to the East Across Arcosanti

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View to the South with Cypress Trees from a Portal of the Crafts III Building

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Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Above Iquique: Alto Hospicio

appearance of reality

September 9, 2020September 16, 2020 MichaelStephenWills

Along Dragon Hill the road turns 90 degrees toward the east, becoming the “Rutas del Desierrto,” shortly, the Alto Hospicio comes into view, a municipality and commune separate from and above Iquique on the desert plain, “the pampa.” The miners who lived and worked at Humberstone, the World Heritage Site we will visit, were called “pampino salitrero.”

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COLEGIO MACAYA is an Urban school located in ALTO HOSPICIO, province of IQUIQUE.. Av. la Pampa 3755, Alto Hospicio, Tarapacá, Chile

Alto Hospicio in 2012 was home to 94,254 souls, as a rapidly growing area there were more this February, 2016. The Colegio Macaya of the photograph, rising above ramshackle dwellings of improvised materials, is an elementary school, near as I can tell with my rudimentary knowledge of the Spanish language.

Proximity to Iquique and its port, its road connectivity to inland roads to large mining centers in Arica-Parinacota, Tarapacá and Atacama regions, was well as cheap land, make this district a strategic link for industry and mining service-rendering companies. Iquique Duty Free Zone has 316 acres in behind this sign where better and seventy (70) percent of revenues are derived.

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References

Wikipedia – “Alto Hospicio“.

Web site: https://www.zofri.cl/en-us/Inversiones/ParqueEmpresarial-AltoHospicio/Pages/Home.aspx

The Dragon

a stable sand dune.

September 8, 2020September 16, 2020 MichaelStephenWills

Cerro Dragón is a geographical and urban landmark made up of a large dune that is located in the coastal area of Norte Grande, Chile, within the city of Iquique.

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Dragon Hill from the Atacama desert escarpment above Iquique

April 18, 2005 it was declared a National Monument Nature Sanctuary. Approximately 4 kilometers long, 834.06 acres. Its location between the urban settlement of Iquique in the lower marine terrace and the growing urbanization of Alto Hospicio in the pampa, as well as its characteristics of open, imposing and original landscape, give the city of Iquique a unique identity.

By virtue of its peculiar characteristics, Cerro Dragón became a symbol for the Iquique community, which has internalized it in its collective imagination as a fundamental part of its territorial identity.

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References

I copied the Spanish text from a web site about this Iquique feature. My text is a translation from Google Translate.

Saltpeter and Massacre

Father-son connection

September 7, 2020September 16, 2020 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

Puerto Montt, port for the Lakes Region, and Iquique of the northern Atacama desert were linked when the Chilean Army massacred striking Saltpeter workers, their wive and children where they gathered in protest of poor working conditions, December 21, 1907. Over 15,000 were gathered when the Army opened fire. Death certificates for the victims were suppressed by the government, over 3,000 were buried in a common grave without ceremony in the city cemetery.

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The connection is father-son. Puerto Montt, founded by German immigrants and named for the president at the time, Manuel Montt, who invited German farmers suffering from a famine with the goal of populating the region. Montt was successful in this goal. In 1907 his son, Pedro’s first official act as newly elected president was, with Saltpeter production at a halt, to send the army to Iquique to suppress striking workers.

A steam locomotive stands apart from the monument,

Now, there is a monument to these workers, “Monumento al pampino salitrero,” above the city plain. Set apart and poorly maintained, trash strewn, is a nod to the importance of railroads for the transportation of the mined product. A few hundred feet away….

….on a round-about is the monument.

Fresh tribute wreaths are on the south side.

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References

Wikipedia – “Saltpeter Workers of Chile“, “Puerto Montt”, “Pedro Montt”, “Santa María School massacre”.