Green Valley

Pima Community College's new Green Valley campus is a little architectural gem designed by Albuquerque's Antoine Predock that will provide facilities for both the college and community.

The 13,800-sq.-ft. campus packs an architectural wallop with an elegant design that capitalizes on the area's beautiful views. Careful sighting and an attention to detail emphasize the surrounding desert environment.

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"Predock is very skilled at sighting the project to take advantage of the significant views," said Robin Shambach, an architect with Tucson's Burns Wald Hopkins Architects, the local partner in the project. "Some of the corridors are lined up quite precisely with key points in the vista."

Work on the $2.5 million project started in August 2002, with Tucson contractor Corona Sierra Construction Inc. moving earth on the 19-acre site in the retirement community of Green Valley 45 m. south of Tucson. The hard-bid project was completed in February.

The new campus is a partnership between Pima Community College, Pima County and the Green Valley Arts Council. Pima County owns the land and buildings, with Pima Community College operating the campus, which is mainly geared to continuing education for seniors.

"It's a unique partnership," said Pima Community College facilities manager Rich Franz. "It was originally planned as a joint- ownership program, but that actually turned out to be a challenge for the code officials. The end result is the college leases space from the county, but we operate it and the county pays us a management fee, based on square footage, for their part of the facility."

The project features four classrooms tied together with shaded exterior corridors. In addition to a performing arts space, there are computer labs, an art lab, a lecture hall and administrative space. The 2,000-sq.-ft. performing arts center features a 40-ft. -tall fly loft that takes its architectural character from the slag piles of a nearby abandoned copper pit.

The performing arts space is a future wing of a planned 500-seat theater owned by Pima County. The arts center will also feature another wing on the other side of the theater. Pima County facilities manager Carter Volle said the county is moving forward with a $4 million bond election in May. The community arts foundation must match the $4 million before the new buildings are constructed.

As with the rest of the project, the performing art space was constructed with load- bearing burnished masonry block. The smooth block is difficult to work with but creates an almost glass-like effect.

"We had some misgivings up front about the burnished block, but Foley Tile was an excellent subcontractor," said Terryl Varnum, a principal and project manager for Corona Sierra. "The block has an almost glass-like surface, so any chips or nicks from handling the masonry can be seen. The masons handled the block with kid gloves and we didn't waste that much."

Tucson's Foley Tile and Masonry laid more than 46,000 units of burnished block.
Light is a key aspect in the design, with classrooms and the performing arts facility capitalizing on natural daylight.

The exterior corridors tie the buildings together with metal shades embedded into the masonry walls. The perforated metal shades create a transition zone with an interesting play between light and shadow.

"It's almost like being under a tree rather than a full shaded canopy," Burns said. "The benefit is the filtered light, which is a nice transition when it's really sunny outside and you walk into the shaded area. It allows the transitional space to have some filtered light."

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