2007-08 / concrete
Living and working at Acrosanti for about a year after college, I worked first as an intern, and then as a construction crew leader teaching construction skills to students and volunteers while engaged in the expansion of the arcology. The main project I worked on was the stabilization of the cliff under the pool, which had eroded badly over thirty years, requiring progressive shoring up of the foundations of the pool. These fixes eventually weren't enough, which led to the construction of a vast, four-story retaining wall/living landscape/inhabitable sculpture that both retained the earth and rock and directly held up the old foundations.
We used the ubiquitous Arcosanti circle/square precast siltcast concrete panels, set into poured-in-place foundations and tied back directly into the hard rock of the cliff with walls, columns, and slabs. As the landscape evolved under the direction of Paolo Soleri, I was allowed to oversee the design and construction small portions of the project, including a cantilevered bench at the base of the westernmost top panel.
