IMPORTANT: Sometimes my navigation goes haywire - I don't know why otherwise I'd fix it. However, if you don't have a navigation bar on the left (or if it disappears after following a link) then you are a victim of this glitch. I suggest you try another browser, try back later, or best of all become a web-expert who can tell me what is wrong...

For those of you wondering just what an arcology is (...you thought it was the study of arcs, right?), my screen name happens to be a relic from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away when I was an architecture major. Arcology is actually a combination of architecture and ecology (so for the other half of you who though it was archaeology, you're wrong too). SimCity 2000 served as my first introduction to arcologies, but there actually is one real arcology, Arcosanti (arcology1). There are many similar ideas of communities that champion beauty and efficiency. Examples include:

If I could live in my 'dream home,' it would be an experimental community of some kind. Artwork from The High Frontier was my original inspiration for majoring in architecture. I wanted to make this type of community exist so that I could live in it. Eventually disillusionment set in, because I realized that the odds of such a community ever being successful were pretty dismal. The High Frontier was written in the '70's and described space colonies for which the necessary technology was already in existence, but even now no physical progress has come of all those wonderful ideas (not the least of which was a brilliant provision for the economic side of such an endeavor). Construction on Arcosanti began in 1970 and is still not complete, nor has the idea caused duplicate efforts. When Milton Hershey died so did the philanthropic vision of Hershey, PA, and it is now becoming little more than a tourist trap. The Biosphere II Project, because of severe interpersonal problems, has become more of an educational museum than a project. And last but not least, the closest thing to an attempt of Broadacre is the Marin County Civic Center. Earthships, fortunately, seem to be catching on. Mercury House also seems to hold some promise. Still, the track record of 20th century experimental communities has been a disappointing realization, but I've somewhat unintentionally come full circle in turning to physics (the late G.K. O'Neill was a physicist). 

 Overall my interest in these types of dwellings has nothing to do with 'conservationmania;' I just think it would be really cool if 21st century Earth could actually look a little more like sci-fi stories have been predicting. Also, population follows an exponential curve, and  I'm just not interested in spending the rest of my life crammed up in a cookie-cutter apartment building or grid locked in traffic.  These are problems created by lack of design and can be corrected by creative effort, and anyway, efficient design has an intrinsic beauty. This is one reason why physics appeals to me so much: nature has this kind of elegance. I don't understand how people can be surrounded by such beautifully coherent order, and yet not be more motivated to creatively imitate it. Ok, ok - I'm getting off my soapbox now, so go enjoy the rest of the site...

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