Cosanti Bronze Windbell - #109

Italian-born architect Paolo Soleri (1919-2013) studied under Frank Lloyd Wright starting in 1947 at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona. Soleri and Wright had vastly different views on the shape American cities should take; Wright favored the sprawling “Broadacre City” concept that would disperse people from each other and the nexus of community life, while Soleri envisioned the opposite, an “urban implosion" - a compact and vertically dense environment that emphasized people’s connection to one another and to nature. The apprenticeship with Wright, while contentious and brief, influenced Soleri and his life’s work profoundly and cemented his interest in incorporating natural elements into his architectural designs, as Wright did.

Cosanti, Soleri's architectural and design studio located in Paradise Valley in Arizona, still operates today for tours and to create the infamous Cosanti bronze windbells.