The Past Meets the Present
By K. Robert Wendel

Arizona State University's past and present are coming together at the corner of College Avenue and University Drive in Tempe.

That's where a construction team led by the Tempe office of McCarthy Cos. is eyeing a November completion date for the new "green" home of the ASU Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Arizona State University.

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Plans call for the building at University Drive and College Avenue to be a certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or L.E.E.D., project by gathering at least 26 points in five areas. The categories include sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy >> and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality and innovation in the design process.

Architects on the ASU Foundation Building tried for points in all of the categories. For example, they created a vault below a parking garage to retain 100 percent of storm water and concentrated on using materials with low volatile organic compounds. The Arizona Board of Regents recently mandated that the state's three universities use the L.E.E.D. system when constructing new buildings.

The $32 million building and adjacent parking garage are owned by Lincoln Properties of Phoenix, and the foundation will lease it for 30 years and then will own it.

The six-story building's design reflects the university's past. Its building's south side is sheathed in highly reflective, low-E glass that picks up the image of some of the oldest buildings on campus and the alumni lawn.

Other sides of the building are clad in the traditional red brick found in the university's oldest buildings. Phoenix-based Sun Valley Masonry did the brickwork.

Looking to the future, a design team from the two Phoenix firms of Gould Evans Associates and Architekton created a huge "sky window" that is framed by two large cantilevered vertical wings at the building entrance. The cantilevers also frame the Newman Center as you exit the building.

"The history of the city of Tempe and the urban fabric of downtown really shaped the design of the building," said architect Tom Reilly of Gould Evans Associates. "It's the idea of trying to evoke an image of the future while reflecting the past."

The project, which is on a tight 3.4 acre site, includes a 1,200-space parking garage.
Designers also had to incorporate a bus transportation center into the design. The project features retail space fronting College Avenue and screening the parking garage. McCarthy-Nordburg is the interior architect.

CMX of Phoenix designed the civil plan, with Buesing Corp. of Phoenix excavating the site. Citywide Contracting performed site utility work.

College Avenue and University Drive is one of the busiest pedestrian intersections in the state, with 8,000 to 12,000 people using the cross walk each day. That meant designers wanted to create a pedestrian- friendly area.

"It's an urban project so there was an opportunity to create something with a pedestrian environment," said architect John Kane of Architekton. "It became a question of how the building engages pedestrians and providing shade for the pedestrians."

Sidewalks snake around the building and the five-story pre cast concrete garage.
There will be a plaza between the building and garage, and it will be shaded most of the day.

TPAC of Phoenix placed the precast concrete. McCarthy self performed other concrete work.

"We call the plaza the canyon area," said project manager Bob Green of McCarthy. "It's a metaphoric canyon that we are trying to replicate with a fountain and some nice desert landscaping." Landscape architect was Urban Earth Design of Phoenix.

There were some obstacles during construction. With the parking structure one level below grade, heavy equipment had to tread carefully in the area to prevent a collapse.
To limit that possibility, engineers from the Phoenix office of AMEC Earth and Environmental designed a shoring system to support the earth.

Sitting on a 6-in. slab-on-grade foundation, the building is 150,000 sq. ft. with approximately 24,900 sq. ft. per floor. Schuff Steel of Phoenix erected the steel-framed building with Scottsdale-based Paul Kohler Engineers designing the structural system.

The project relies on the university's central mechanical system for electricity and chilled water. Bel Aire Mechanical of Phoenix was responsible for the mechanical work.

"It's a little out of the ordinary in that they had their own electric service," said Larry McAlister, a senior project manager with Phoenix-based Corbins Electric. "What is normally brought in through Arizona Public Service or Salt River Project is brought in through an oil-filled transformer that steps the voltage down from 2,000 volts to a 220/440- volt system."

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