Paolo Soleri Amphitheater, Open-air theatre at Santa Fe Indian School, US.
The Paolo Soleri Amphitheater is an open-air theatre on the campus of the Santa Fe Indian School in New Mexico. Its curved concrete shell wraps around a thrust stage, with tiered pathways leading to seating for around 650 people.
Paolo Soleri designed the amphitheater in 1970 and built it using an earth-forming method where the ground itself served as the mold for the concrete. After around 40 years of use, it closed in 2010 when the cost of upkeep became too high for the school to manage.
For decades, the amphitheater on the Santa Fe Indian School campus brought together Native and non-Native artists on the same stage. The concerts held there drew a wide audience and gave the school a public presence in the artistic life of the city.
The amphitheater sits on a private school campus and is not open to the public. Parts of the concrete structure can be seen from certain areas of the grounds, but entering the venue itself is not possible.
Paolo Soleri built the structure without any steel, shaping the concrete directly over mounded earth that was later removed. This approach was very unusual for a performance venue of this size and reflects Soleri's interest in letting natural materials define the final form.
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