DESTINATION

destination COSANTI BELL FOUNDRY A place alive with imagination, lush with plants and the MUSICAL SOUNDS OF CHIMES

THE WIND PERFORMS MAGIC AT COSANTI. When the air is still, a hush blankets this bronze-bell foundry started by visionary Italian architect Paolo Soleri. Then, like a maestro conducting a symphony, one whoosh of the gentle desert breeze signals hundreds of Soleri wind-bells to break into song.

Some toll in deep resonating tones like Gothic cathedral bells. Others clank like cowbells. Together, they strike an enchanting harmony at this 5-acre spread in Paradise Valley, a Phoenix suburb, where the 83-year-old architect dreamed up a world uniquely his own. Entering Cosanti feels like Alice's fabled excursion through the looking glass. Suddenly visitors find themselves in a new world of imagination, lush with plants and musical notes, where buildings aren't big boxes, but half-domes called apses. Everywhere the olive and paloverde tree branches dangle choirs of bells: earth-toned ceramic ones; bronze ones oxidized to vibrant hues of turquoise, coral, green and orange; and Picasso-style abstractions of women and fish that designer Soleri calls "scherzos," meaning "little jokes" in Italian.

In the gallery hang Soleri's sketches of futuristic cities-part Flash Gordon, part Buckminster Fuller-that he calls "arcologies," combining the words architecture and ecology. Eventually, his sketchbooks couldn't contain his vision or ambitions to create a utopia without cars, an antidote for urban sprawl. Back in the late 1960s, he purchased 860 acres of desert north of Phoenix, near Cordes Junction, where he's building an arcology called Arcosanti.

Still a whirlwind of energy, Soleri splits his time between there and Cosanti, where he busily carves abstract shapes into Styrofoam forms, which are later used to create his special bell assemblies, or conducts his "School of Thought" on Tuesdays. On a recent afternoon, nearly a dozen visitors encircled the slight and agile architectural guru with a balding head and thick awning of eyebrows. Dressed in a navy sweatshirt, khakis and Birkenstocks, he began by quietly asking: "Does anyone have a burning question?" A banker wondered, "How do you keep passionate day in and day out?" Soleri paused, temporarily stumped. Motivation has never been a problem. He often gets by on three hours of sleep to plough more time into work, which is his life.

It took 60 years, but at last he's won international recognition; two years ago he was awarded the Golden Lion Award by the Venezia Biennale for a lifetime of achievement. Known for his genius and shyness, Soleri humbly jokes that he was "rediscovered" 40 years too late.

But it's better late than never for the man born in Turin, Italy, on the summer solstice, June 21, 1919. Soleri means "you are the sun" in Italian, so it's fitting that he journeyed to Arizona's sun-drenched desert after earning his Ph.D. in architecture in Turin. He spent a year and a half working for architect Frank Lloyd Wright at his compound, Taliesin West, before branching out on his own. While at work on his first project in 1949, the Dome House in Cave Creek, he fell in love with his client's daughter, Colly Woods. They married later that year and honeymooned in Italy, where he was hired to build a ceramics factory in the hillside town of Vietri sul Mare. Once the project was done, the couple returned to Arizona.

In 1955, they bought a 5-acre, saguarostudded patch of Sonoran Desert buttressing Mummy Mountain in an area that would grow up to become the posh town of Paradise Valley. After learning about ceramics from the factory he designed, he began creating ceramic and later bronze wind-bells. They soon would be sold at museum stores nationwide and earn him an American Institute of Architects gold medal for craftsmanship. While Soleri still keeps his hand in design, today artisans add one-of-a-kind motifs to the 20 to 120 bells created each weekday at Cosanti.

On a recent morning, retired couples and a grandfather with three granddaughters in towTo see more of one of Paolo Soleri's early influences, drive about 9 miles northwest of Cosanti to Frank Lloyd Wright's famous desert architectural studio. Still an active design studio and architectural school, Taliesin West invites experimentation in desert living: Apprentices design and build their own innovative shelters in the surrounding Sonoran Desert. Students and staff make various tours available to meet all levels of interest, from onehour panorama tours to three-hour behind-the-scenes tours. Times, fees and availability vary by season. For most, reservations are requested, but not needed. Scottsdale, recorded tour information, (480) 860-8810; reservations, (480) 860-2700, ext. 494 or 495; www.franklloydwright.org.

OTHER ATTRACTIONS TALIESIN WEST GRADY GAMMAGE MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM

Part of Wright's extensive legacy in Arizona, this "wedding cake" of a performing arts center on the Arizona State University campus adds to the cultural atmosphere of downtown Tempe. On the west edge of campus at Mill Avenue and Apache Boulevard, the circular building draws notice with its pattern of interlocking circles lofted by 50 concrete pillars. You can arrange for a complimentary half-hour tour of Gammage, weekdays, between 1 and 3 P.M. Tempe, (480) 965-4050. For performance information and tickets, Gammage Box Office, (480) 965-3434.

ARCOSANTI

Soleri's arcology concept comes to life in a futuristic prototype community on the central Arizona highlands, about 65 miles north of Cosanti. Besides the permanent residents, interns and workshop students live and work on site. The visitor center welcomes visitors daily, 9 A.M. to 5 P.M., all year. The cafe and bakery provide light fare during limited hours, or you can eat in nearby Cordes Junction. Artisans cast bronze bells at the foundry apse and ceramic bells and tiles at the ceramics apse. Tour the vaulted cast-concrete buildings, 10 A.M. to 4 P.M., every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Suggested $8 donation. For longer visits, you can stay overnight in one of the guest rooms (buffet meals available at the cafe) or take a one-week or five-week workshop. Arcosanti often serves as a venue for various performing arts productions. Take Interstate 17 north from Phoenix to Exit 262. Cordes Junction, (928) 632-6217; www.arcosanti.org.

Never producing the same mix of hues twice. After the dramatic bronze pour-usually held weekdays between 9:30 A.M. and 12:30 P.M.-visitors dispersed along red brick paths lined with olive trees, agaves, golden barrel cacti and aloe vera. One path leads to the ceramics studio, a large concrete shell with a circular red skylight in a pattern like a leaf's veins. Here, ceramic bells can be seen as works in-progress or complete, dangling from the ceiling. Another path winds to a pool shaded by a 20-ton concrete canopy that appears to defy gravity atop wooden telephone poles. "That's part of its charm," said general manager Chris Ohlinger.

The journey can't be complete without a stop at the gallery, where visitors can find that one perfect bell-for the right price, of course. The smallest bells sell for $22 and Soleri's one-of-a-kind creations, combining wind-bells and abstract sculptural linkages, carry price tags up to $12,000. "They're original works of art," said Ohlinger, "and they're priced accordingly."

The income from the bells funds Soleri's dream of utopia, Arcosanti. "If you had told me 25 years ago that Arcosanti would be built onthe income from the bells, I would have said you were crazy," reads a Soleri quote on a plaque hanging in the gallery. But never underestimate the magical power of these bells. Music from a CD called "The Bells of Arcosanti" wafts through the gallery. Bronze wind-bells tolling in the cavernous vaults and domes of Arcosanti strike rich harmonies with a bamboo flute, didgeridoo and hammered dulcimer. The soothing harmony soon lulls visitors into such a serene state of mind that they want to lingerfor at least another hour or two. Also LOCATION: Cosanti is at 6433 Ε. Doubletree Ranch Road, Paradise Valley.

GETTING THERE: From Scottsdale Road, turn west on Doubletree Ranch Road. Travel approximately 1 mile and look for the rustic metal sign that reads "Soleri" on the left.

PHONE NUMBERS: (480) 948-6145.

HOURS, DATES: Monday through Saturday, 9 A.Μ. to 5 P.M.; Sunday, 1 to 5 P.M.; closed on major holidays.

FEES: $1 recommended donation.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Arcosanti, (602) 254-5309 from inside Phoenix area and (928) 6327135 from outside Phoenix area.