Soleri Bridge

Photo by Vicki Leigh Bell

Photo by Scottsdale CVB

Twenty years in the making, the Soleri Bridge and Plaza at the Waterfront provides a pedestrian walkway across the Scottsdale Canal.  Paolo Soleri was at the opening and dedication December 2010, and at age 91, was able to see his first bridge design come to fruition.  The two 64-foot brushed-steel pylons not only create the illusion of a suspension bridge, but act as a solar calendar, allowing a beam of light to fall on the red stripe exactly at noon, and the pylons create shadows to mark the sun's journey from summer to winter.  Soleri wanted to have a bridge serve as a reminder of our connection to the Earth and each other.  The plaza has ten 8-foot panels with Soleri designs cast in concrete similar to the building blocks of Cosanti and Arcosanti, Soleri's sustainable, planned community at Cordes Junction.  Though the bridge evolved from his original more ecologically-friendly design to something much more "Scottsdale," he was able to keep his belief of the connection between us and the Earth's cycles as a center of the largest of Scottsdale Public Arts' projects.