Cosanti Originals

Cosanti Originals is the former home and studio of architect Paolo Soleri, at 6433 E Doubletree Ranch Road in Paradise Valley, near Phoenix. Its curved, earth-cast concrete buildings are as much a reason to visit as the working bronze foundry and handmade art. A guided tour can take you through Soleri’s design studio and residential structures, with a chance to see a bronze pour. The gallery sells bronze and ceramic wind bells, along with planters, tiles and jewelry. Allow time to look closely at the architecture and the work made on site.

Soleri’s home and experimental studio

Cosanti is the Paradise Valley home and studio of architect Paolo Soleri. Work on the site began in the mid-1950s, after Soleri returned to the Scottsdale area. He had studied under Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West and later developed an approach that brought architecture and ecology together.

The name combines Italian words for “thing” and “against,” expressing Soleri’s resistance to materialism. His ideas about architecture and the natural world are visible in the buildings as well as the objects made here. Cosanti is listed on the Arizona Registry of Historic Places.

How the earth-cast buildings were made

The site’s rounded structures use a method Soleri called earth-casting. Builders formed a concrete shell over mounded earth, then removed the soil beneath it. The resulting shapes include barrel-roofed buildings and ceramic apses, which function as both spaces and sculptural forms.

Walk the grounds with time to look at the buildings from different angles. The design is easier to understand in person than from the road, where the site can appear modest. The structures were an early experiment in Soleri’s ideas and helped inform his later work at Arcosanti, north of the Phoenix area.