Design Context/ Design and Execution
Our interdisciplinary design team worked together with our client to seamlessly meld the new project with the existing campus and with each others’ scopes of work. ASU had struggled attracting students to this campus in part because of the oppressive over-paved ambience of the former air force base. The goal was to transform the perception and feel of the campus with this major new project. Our team reviewed the campus master plan which had a decidedly Ivy League approach to the campus design and developed a new master plan strategy for the project. We reinvented what a campus could be in the unique region of the Sonoran desert which only receives 7” of rainfall a year.
Inspired by our client’s need for storm water solutions and the Sonoran Desert’s arroyos, the design of the desert mall allows campus drainage to meander through a new, high performance, water cleansing native landscape adjacent to new major east west pedestrian circulation through the campus. Stabilized decomposed granite walkways in combination with desert shade trees help to reduce the urban heat island effect while the judicious use of textured concrete paving ensures ADA accessibility and proper emergency access required for a campus setting. Salvaged desert trees and small native shrubs, cacti and seed were used to create the arroyo habitat. During a rain event the arroyo captures and slows the storm water providing supplemental deep watering to the vegetation while lessening the effect of run-off to downstream offsite properties by retaining water within this historically troublesome, flood prone area. The desert mall is the heart and identity of the Polytechnic campus and will eventually be repeated on the north end of the campus core to replace yet another asphalt road with similar impervious and flooding challenges.
Each individual building courtyard is designed to relate to the schools program housed within and to take advantage of the microclimates created by the buildings. The Morrison School of Agribusiness courtyard includes a series of irrigation canals that feed an orchard court recalling the agricultural heritage and irrigation of the East Valley. The School of Science and Technology courtyard is shaped by a living wall planted with native vegetation adjacent to an irrigation seep, creating a periodic water event similar to those found in Arizona canyons. In addition, outdoor classrooms are designed into the space. Shaped by an amphitheater built from recycled sidewalks, the Education Humanities and Art courtyard includes a lawn gathering space to view performances. The backdrop to the amphitheater is freestanding gabion wall filled with the abundance of existing river rock from the site. Serving as a pedestrian link between administrative offices, the Wanner Sutton canal courtyard transports students through a shade structure tunnel that will soon be covered with vines. The courtyard exhibits native riparian trees and vegetation made possible by the collection and retention of storm water collected from the adjacent buildings.