Cold and Colder

We've had a couple cold and dreary days here at Arcosanti. It has driven something home that I've always realized, but has obviously escaped the designers of this place. Passive solar is a wonderful thing, but you need some backup. Understand that most of the resident spaces do have some form of backup heat. The older spaces have wood stoves, the newer completed spaces have either propane wall furnaces or in-floor hot water heat. The dorm spaces and incomplete residences must rely on small, inefficient, and not too effective portable electric heaters. But many of the public spaces have no backup heat source whatsoever. Today as we sat in the cafe eating lunch while seeing our own breath, we all decided that this was an oversight bordering on gross stupidity. Even Arizona can have a couple cloudy days in a row.




The clouds started to blow out late in the day, so it looks like we will get some relief tomorrow, but it came to late to save us tonight. We are all burrowed in like rock squirrels for a long, cold night. I can't help but question the wisdom of this. Many of the long-time residents scoff at the newbies with comments like "At least when you're cold, you know you are alive." However, my personal comfort isn't the only consideration. First, what impression does coming to visit the "City of the Future" only to find yourself bundled up in hat, coat, and mittens trying to eat your lunch while indoors, give to those visiting Arcosanti? Second, as a member of the maintenance crew, I can tell you that the cost to the Cosanti Foundation of one burst water line is much greater than the cost of providing adequate backup heating.

But that's just me being logical surrounded by a bunch of right-brain touchy-feeling artist types.




At least the presence of some clouds gave us a good sunset. Debbie happened to be looking out the window and noticed the color in the sky and ran outside with the camera. The full set is on Flickr.