PAOLO SOLERI. THE CONCEPTION OF THE UNIVERSE AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN ARCHITECTURAL OBJECT
Paolo Soleri (1919-2013), an architecture theorist, dedicated his life's work to the problem of finding a new vector of mankind's salvation through architecture. His work is hardly covered in Russian professional literature. All the information on the architect is limited to a few fragmentary articles, mostly translated ones. In the West, Paolo Soleri's theoretical and creative heritage is researched quite extensively. Furthermore, the predominant approach to examining Soleri has been to consider his architectural work through the prism of his worldview - his ideas and concepts. In the following work, the author proposes an alternative approach. According to a hypothesis put forward by the author of this study, Soleri's architecture is not simply a realization of his worldview. Paolo Soleri's concept of cosmos and system of theoretical views and the formation of the architectural object in his projects and buildings are two self-sufficient architectonic entities. Both systems are constantly interacting - the ideology elucidates the design. Nonetheless, each of the two systems should be perceived as a selfsufficient structure with its own architectonics, not reducible to one another. The author derives the notions of 'grid,' 'concentricity,' 'growth,' and 'flow' as models for the four principles of Soleri's architectural constructions. Their correlation, co-translation, and expansion into complex structures is collected in the field of Soleri's spatial formations. The study proposes a model of ideological and design worlds of Paolo Soleri for the first time. The study also introduces into academic literature an extensive material on the theoretical and creative heritage of Paolo Soleri.