The Arcosanti staff has done an excellent job of creating a remarkable event celebrating Paolo's birthday and the alumni reunion. Over 200 alumni, family and friends gathered. It was great to see so many people gathered at Arcosanti.

Summary of Events

Monday-Thursday, June 15-18, 2009 - alumni gathering

Alumni rolled in during the week, with most arriving on Thursday and Friday.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

School of Thought - preview of new Arcosanti Critical Mass and Lean Linear City models

• 3-D models showed extensive detail of exterior and interiors - people were very impressed and inspired

Friday, June 19, 2009

Presentation of New Critical Mass and Lean Linear City Models

• 3-D models showed extensive detail of exterior and interiors - people were very impressed and inspired. Details.

Cosanti Foundation Fundraising Discussion

• Presentation by Arcosanti staff of various projects and ideas for fundraising.
• Workshop scholarship funding. Several colleges are sponsoring scholarhips for their students to attend workshops.
• Planning Department equipment
• Canopy
• Housing
• Sustainability Projects
• Energy Canopy Greenhouse
• A lively discussion followed the presentations. Some alumni stated that there is an urgency to get the buildings and other projects developed.
• There was a strong feeling that alumni could be a significant help in direct contributions and in other fundraising activities.
• Click here for a complete summary of the Fundraising Discussion and some ideas for moving forward.

Mixer, Dinner, Dancing, Presentations

• Mixer below new pool wall - tons of guacamole, tapanade, beer, wine
• BBQ dinner in Minds Garden - families, alumni, residents, kids, people on stilts, food delivered by solar-powered carts
• night bronze pour in Foundry - families, alumni, residents, kids, awesome glow in the dark
• alumni presentations - readings, slideshows
  • slides from Tom Price, Peter and Chiara's wedding, 1970 first winter on the site
  • videos by David Belskis

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Agua Fria mapping project - mapping with GPS, study of erosion - grant coming to control erosion

Break-out Session - Sustainability

• follow up session
• discusison of how alumni can help
  • supplying technical expertise
  • supplying clerical support
  • supplying help with fundraising

Break-out Session - Alumni Website

• George Kosmides presented a preview of the new AAN website (this website)
• after evaluating a number of options we chose powerful open-source Drupal and MySQL database
• provides comprehensive management of user accounts and profiles
• supports large number of project teams
• supports large number of photo and video galleries
• several areas for paying dues ($25/year) and making donations
• alumni + friends will be notified when the site is ready

Break-out Session - Greenhouse

• 3-D models showed extensive detail of exterior and interiors - people were very impressed and inspired
• Critical Mass buildings

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Paolo's 90th Birthday Celebration and Future Site of the Soleri Bridge - downtown Scottsdale. Remarks by Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane.

Phoenix Public Library - Summer Solstice Talk by architect and Arcosanti alum Will Bruder, designer of the library.

List of Attendees

The following alumni attended -

 Follow Up Activities

RegistrationDetails on Arcosanti website www.arcosanti.org/90/main.html