Trip Diary | Arcosanti, Arizona

by Maleeha Sambur

I've been wanting to get to Arcosanti for years, and when the opportunity presented itself in the form of a friend's Arizona wedding, my husband and I jumped at the chance to spend a night there. We arrived in pitch dark after turning off the highway and bumping along an unpaved, unlit road, dodging prickly-pear cacti at every turn, and praying our shoddy rental car would stay the course. The harrowing drive proved well worth it, however. Over the next 16 hours, we were treated to a a dazzling night sky speckled with stars, watched the sunrise from the beautiful Sky Suite (a concrete-and-glass dream), and toured the facilities while learning about the life's work of Arcosanti's founder, the visionary architect and urban designer Paolo Soleri.  

Ricardo Bofill's La Muralla Roja

by Maleeha Sambur

Apartamento co-founder Nacho Alegre's gorgeous photographs of La Muralla Roja, the Ricardo Bofill-designed housing complex in the Mediterranean town of Calpe, Spain, have been dancing in my head ever since I spied them on Vogue.com over the summer. They continue to haunt me, resurfacing in my Pinterest and Instagram feeds every other day or so. 

Built atop a rocky cliff, the design of the complex was inspired by the walled fortresses of North Africa, its flow dictated by a series of inter-connected stairs and access bridges that lead to the 50 apartments. The vivid color scheme consisting of pinks, reds, and blues was intended to interact - either as complement or contrast -  with the changing colors of the sky. 

While I'm pretty much a fan of all of Bofill's works, these images in particular had me jonesing hard for a trip to the Alicante. However, it was Alegre's beautiful, spot-on description of the place that really stuck:

I imagine it as a Postmodern interpretation of a casbah, with its labyrinth-like circulation, overlapping stairs, impossible balconies, and endless series of patios. 

Read more about his impressions and see the rest of the photos here.