Architect Paolo Soleri – a life in pictures

Soleri standing outside Earth House, which is partly underground, at Cosanti, 1959. Cosanti is the architect's workshop and home, which remains open to the public today Photograph: Leonard McCombe/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

Soleri's workshop at Cosanti, 1969 Photograph: Bob Peterson/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

Inside the workshop at Cosanti Photograph: Bob Peterson/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

Soleri shows the model for his Hexahedron City, 1969 Photograph: Bob Peterson/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

Hexahedron housing city model in close-up Photograph: Bob Peterson/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

Soleri in front of 3-D Jersey in 1970. It was a model of a supersonic jetport and city that could be built on the mud flats of New Jersey. The city would include hanging sunlit gardens, terminals, offices, hotels, theatres and housing for 1 million people Photograph: Bob Daugherty/AP

Soleri is perhaps most famous for his experimental town, Arcosanti, built in the Arizona desert. Its aim was to prove urban living didn't have to harm the environment Photograph: Wolfgang Kaehler/Corbis

Some residents of Arcosanti still make a living from selling Soleri's bronze windbells Photograph: Alamy

Building in the community of Arcosanti began in 1970
Photograph: GE Kidder Smith/Corbis

Soleri overseeing the works at Arcosanti, still underway in 1985 Photograph: Kent Sievers/AP

It was designed to house 5,000 people, but Arcosanti has never grown large enough to house more than a few hundred Photograph: Alamy

An Arcosanti apse, where gatherings and concerts are held Photograph: Alamy

Notable for its domed structures and soaring arches, Arcosanti combines housing with a bakery, ceramics studio, amphitheatre and swimming pool Photograph: Alamy

The Soleri footbridge and plaza in Scottsdale, Arizona, was completed in 2011 Photograph: Alamy

Soleri's Glendale Community College Amphitheatre in Arizona, opened in 1995 Photograph: Alamy