HISTORY

The vision for the Ecosa Institute was formulated over a period of years during the 1980’s and 90’s by English architect and educator Antony Brown. His dedication to issues of sustainability and ecological design developed after joining Paolo Soleri’s Cosanti Foundation and working with the Italian architect on his conceptual designs for a new vision of urban settlements. Brown worked on the resulting urban prototype, Arcosanti, as architect-in-residence supervising both design work and construction. Today, Arcosanti is a living model of Soleri’s arcology concept (architecture + ecology) still under construction in the Arizona desert.

During his time studying with Soleri, coordinating the Arcosanti project, and teaching the philosophy of the arcology concept to workshop participants, Brown began to cultivate his own vision of an ecological future and the new approach to design education he saw as necessary to achieve it. “It became clear that only a design education that was comprehensive, interactive, and innovative could bring any understanding of a subject as complex as ecological design.”

After leaving the Arcosanti project, Brown began to explore these ideas through a series of classes he developed and taught at Prescott College, a four-year college ‘for the liberal arts and the environment.” This opportunity to experiment with teaching methods convinced him that experiential education was the best way to reach students and to personalize learning.

“What I realized was there were two approaches to sustainable design: one, teach environmentalists to be designers or two, teach designers to be environmentalists. For both, a strong foundation in design is key, as is developing a commitment to sustainability. The challenge was to find a new educational methodology that encompassed both at once.”

In 1996 Brown formally founded the Ecosa Institute in Prescott, Arizona, and in 1998 the organization was granted 501(C)3 status. The goal for the institute is to bring innovative thinking, new pedagogical models and an interdisciplinary approach to a design education which uses nature as its underlying model. “If we are to base our designs on the complexities of nature then it is absurd to educate designers in a compartmentalized, linear setting. To educate designers who can integrate human aspirations and nature’s systems we must model their education on the greatest designer of all – nature itself.”

The Ecosa Institute offered its first semester in sustainable design in 2000. The response from students and faculty has been very positive and demonstrates that a real desire exists for this kind of approach. The program has now expanded to include both a spring and fall semester programs as well as summer workshops.

"The ultimate goal for Ecosa is to evolve into a four year design curriculum where students begin by learning the basics of design and natural systems. They then develop their own design focus as they gain more skills and discover their own interests. The intent is to produce designers and architects who have a broad-based knowledge of nature, culture, and design who can understand the larger perspectives fundamental to creating a sustainable future."