Drifting with Intent

The highways of Los Angeles twist like a macramé knot around the city. Immortalised by the infinite simulacra of Hollywood, they seem familiar – though this is the first time I’ve really seen them. Heat distortions from the blazing sun add to the haze lingering over the urban expanse. I’m inching along a crowded highway. The faces of the drivers around me are impassive, blank. I have a long way to go – 420 miles according to the Navman on the dash. My destination is Arcosanti, Arizona.

Arcosanti is the brainchild of architect Paolo Soleri, it’s the solitary example of an ‘arcology’ a self-contained, ecological urban environment. In the ‘60s Soleri envisaged arcologies as a response and counter to human population and resource pressures. He wanted to redefine the whole notion of cities and build on a massive scale. His vision was too complex and radical to be realised, though it was captivating - a kind of science fiction made real. Arcosanti isn’t widely considered a bucket-list destination, though I’d seen some pictures of it and I just had to go.

An expanse of desert opens up. I press the accelerator firmly. The engine surges with a power that presses me into the seat. I’m driving a late model sports sedan, one of the nicest cars I’ve ever driven. Damn that rental car salesman. The economy model would’ve been fine. My credit card bleeds. The sides of the roads are littered with the mangled carcasses of tyres, detritus of innumerable blowouts left lying in the sun.

I pull in to the remote location of Cordes junction as dusk draws in. A cluster of unique buildings juts from the arid terrain into the skyline. It’s an otherworldly sight. Finding my way into the complex, I soon discover a group of people in a communal area. The ensuing conversation reveals a cross-section of personalities drawn to this place: young idealistic architects, ecologists, artists, designers, nomads, etcetera. Stories and laughter are shared in the gathering darkness while someone strums a guitar. The convivial atmosphere is reflected by the accumulated warmth of the day, seeping out from the stones of the plaza. This place is like a temple built to ecology and big-picture thinking - a place where idealists and dreamers come to balm their world-weariness and imagine an alternative way of living. Taking all this in under the stars I’m glad I made the journey across the desert. I found a sliver of utopia, a fleeting moment of travellers nirvana, in Arcosanti, Arizona.