Arcosanti has been called an “experimental city,” “an “urban laboratory,” a “caravanserai.” Seventy miles north of Phoenix, the 25-acre compound, built on a 4,060-acre land preserve, rises from the desert like a mirage. The project was the brainchild of “visionary” Paolo Soleri (1919-2013). Arcology — a concept combining architecture and ecology — was his guiding light.

“Cosanti” (in Italian, “against things and business”) was the name Soleri gave to his home in Paradise Valley — another 75 miles north and now a gallery, studio, and shop selling ceramics and the sculptural bronze-cast windbells for which Arcosanti has come to be known.