the sketchbooks of paolo soleri

"These Sketchbooks contain the seed from which sprang one of the boldest visions of our time—the giant Arcologies, those self-contained city-buildings of comparable extent in all three dimensions. Soleri's reasoned fervor and prophetic matter-of-factness can easily persuade that the realization of this vision will alone save earth from man and man from himself.

The private sketchbooks of Soleri—excerpts from which are reproduced in facsimile here—are the visual archive of his daily work, a "procedure of the bookkeeping of the mind," a record of inspiration caught in its inception. This record consists of large drawings (about 400 are included in the book) and text related to them and to more general concerns. A new order of life—Arcology—has gradually evolved through the sketchbooks, which partake of the spirit of da Vinci's notebooks in their complete integration of artistic vision and technical invention."

publication date: 1971