Two miles down a partly paved road northeast from the gas stations and cafés, the evolving complex and community of Arcosanti was masterminded by Italian architect Paolo Soleri to be a self-sustaining habitat in which architecture and ecology function in symbiosis. Building began in 1970 but Arcosanti is a bit tired-looking these days and hasn't quite achieved Soleri's original vision. It's still worth a stop to take a tour, have a bite at the café, and purchase one of the hand-cast bronze wind-bells made at the site. The town is off I-17 at Cordes Junction, near the town of Mayer.
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