2011 AIA Arizona Design Awards

The American Institute of Architects Arizona Design Awards recognize excellence in design, planning, and construction of projects located anywhere in the world that are designed by AIA Arizona architects registered and licensed in Arizona.

The Design Awards honor the highest standards of design in response to user requirements, site, context, climate, and environment. Each entry, regardless of size or classification, is judged individually on the basis of total design merit.

Awards are given the categories of honor, merit, and citation (in order of importance). Certificates were presented to award-winning AIA Arizona members at the 2011 Celebrate Architecture Awards Presentation held Oct. 22 at the Phoenix Zoo.

Honor 2502 N. 1st Avenue Owner: repp design + construction Contractor: repp design + construction The goals of the project were to adapt a 30-year-old retail space for use as a commercial office while simultaneously respecting the project budget and larger goals for sustainability: including natural day-lighting, water and electric conservation, and durability. The primary challenge was the west façade and main entry. The existing building did not successfully address the undesirable solar heat gain and glare, the adjacent road noise, or the poor vehicular/pedestrian separation at the entry. The renovation introduces a custom steel structure and façade that achieves the reduction of solar heat gain and glare, introduces a new entry sequence that includes a landscaped courtyard, and provides a unique identifying feature for the building and its occupants. The metal structure supports new solar panels that provide power for the building and screens new water harvesting cisterns.		Honor Whispering Hope Ranch Owner: Whispering Hope Ranch Foundation Architect: Studio Ma Contractor: The Weitz Company Whispering Hope Ranch is a camp for children with special medical needs located in a ponderosa pine forest just below the Mogollon Rim. With its streams, meadows and views, the Ranch provides a welcome respite from Phoenix’s extreme summer heat. An extensive path system connects the many features of the 45-acre site allowing children to wander freely and to have therapeutic interactions with the rescued animals that reside there. The site posed many challenges, including poor soils and excessive slopes. The combination of strong sunlight and summer monsoon rains also had to be considered. The program includes a dining hall, administration offices, single and double cabins and an infirmary. The camp’s many structures are organized through the sloping shed/butterfly roof motif, which provide large porches for camp activities. Natural materials are used throughout.

Merit Arizona Science Center Owner: City of Phoenix Architect: Architekton Contractor: Brycon Construction Designed by a critically acclaimed architect in 1995, the Arizona Science Center remains an exciting cultural destination. Its success overwhelmed the outdoor entry court with more than 1,200 visitors per day, often queuing in the severe Phoenix heat. This project introduced a new entry that created a more comfortable experience for those in line and enhanced the functionality of the lobby. The design solution was to float a “cloud” over the existing circulation path from the upper entrance level to the below grade admissions courtyard. The zinc-clad element reconciles with the original architect’s concrete and metal-clad building forms, becoming a new, appropriate object in the landscape. The resulting assemblage creates a natural extension of the building composition to the east and south.		Merit Cedar Street Residence 2010 Owner: Matthew & Maria Salenger Architect: colab studio, llc Contractor: Build, Inc. At this renovation of a 1954 bungalow in Tempe, a tight budget necessitated simplicity and efficiency: a large central courtyard; a flexible, transformable house. The existing house was gutted. Three new walls were positioned. Four mobile wardrobes were added, each with a built-in door. Bedrooms may be created or taken away as needed. Re-used steel frames and decking create new a entry and patios. The addition: Mobile millwork separates the great room from the studio. When entertaining, the millwork moves east to create a 1,000 SF dining/living space. If the studio grows, the millwork moves west. Multiple locations for power/data/speaker connections in the floor for millwork placement. All spaces view into the courtyard that is surrounded by translucent, reflective glass.

Merit Sunnyslope Sustainable Owner: Marlene Imirzian & Associates LLC, Architects Architect: Marlene Imirzian & Associates LLC, Architects Contractor: Marlene Imirzian & Associates LLC, Architects This project highlights sustainable, adaptive re-use of a modest 1950s office building in north central Phoenix. Located on Central Avenue, the project transforms what was a stark, heat-generating site and building into a cool, multi-layered oasis that buffers the building from the movement and noise of the street. Through natural, sustainable intervention, it has established identity and place in the urban environment. The strategies utilized are designed to rejuvenate the building and site, improve the surrounding urban setting, and reduce any negative impact on the environment. The project establishes the importance of designing sustainable and beautiful solutions for the small urban lot that pervades the Phoenix area that if duplicated would substantially improve the city.		Merit Diamond Head Mountain House Architect: Rob Paulus Architects Ltd. Construction Management: Rob Paulus Architects Ltd This house for an astronomer in the Tucson Mountains takes full advantage of its sloping site to create a dramatic living arrangement in a harsh, yet beautiful environment. Working with a minimal footprint, the stacked scheme utilizes strategic view openings as well as a vertical progression of spaces to proceed from enclosed and earthbound to lofty and skyward. An observatory on top of the hill with remote viewing from inside the house completes the scheme. Passive solar orientation creates large openings to north views with shaded glazing at south vistas that include Kitt Peak and the Tucson Mountains. Operational shade panels control morning sunlight at the lower and upper floor east bedrooms, while a small western aperture frames the colorful sunsets prominent in the Southwest. Simple geometries and rusted corrugated metal contrast with the varied color and textures of the Sonoran Desert.

Citation 990 Offices Owner: Randi Dorman + Rob Paulus Architect: Rob Paulus Architects Ltd. Contractor: Mega Trend Construction The design of the 990 Offices transforms a 30-year-old auto repair shop into multi-tenant professional office space. Registered for LEED certification, it employs passive solar orientation, a heavily insulated enclosure system, efficient daylighting strategies and a new aluminum rain screen to create an efficient and inspiring work environment. Additionally, 3,000 gallons of underground rainwater catchment actively irrigate landscaping and 400 SF of raised bed organic garden. Inside, an undulating wood ceiling, resembling the form of a violin, provides spatial interest and acoustic relief. Lush Sonoran Desert planting, fractured rock from another project excavation and a re-purposed jet cowling sculpture enliven the outdoor spaces to create an oasis with shade and plant color. The building plays off its industrial and residential neighbors in proportion and materiality, including nearby residential adaptive-reuse and urban infill projects. 990 Offices completes the block with complementary design and a common sensitivity to smart urban development.		Citation Nursing & Exercise Science Building at Mesa CC Owner: Maricopa County Community College District Architect: SmithGroup Contractor: McGough Construction This project aims to honor an existing 1960s structure and its impressive “bones” by exposing the existing concrete waffle roof structure throughout the interior and wrapping the exterior on two sides with additional program. The new wrap respects the latest contemporary facilities on campus while not overpowering the original. The bisecting “interior mall” celebrates instruction through transparency and honors the old and the new coming together, harvesting diffused natural light as the new structure hovers over the pedestrian walkway. The tilting of the metal volume creates a small sliver of daylight glazing and view of the sky for the classrooms along the project’s south and east facades. The construction of the new building is resolved as an exposed steel frame clad with familiar campus materials.

Citation Urban In-Fill Owner: Andy Byrnes, AIA Architect: the construction zone ltd Contractor: the construction zone ltd An urban infill project in Phoenix adjacent to a major freeway, its linear configuration maximizes the buildable area and parking while shading the site with the structure. The planning and layout allows for an open and flowing work environment for the company that occupies the space. The building is an honest expression of the materials and systems used to define the structure. The project is an investigation of how materials interact. It is the execution of these connections that make the architecture. Materials are used honestly with minimal finish or adornment. The appropriate use of a material maximizes the value added by reducing waste, increasing construction productivity, and allowing for the finest craftsmanship possible. The goal was to blur the separation between conceptualizing and building sustainable architecture.		Citation Rio Salado Audubon Center Owner: National Audubon Society/City of Phoenix Architect: Weddle Gilmore Contractor: Okland Construction The riparian habitat restoration of the Rio Salado is the result of a $100M investment by the City of Phoenix and the Army Corps of Engineers to transform the dry river bed that had become an urban scar. The Center is the focus of this habitat restoration and is strategically located in the multi-cultural heart of the city. It strives to reach urban children, educating a new generation of conservationists and supporting the growth of a conservation ethic. The Rio Salado Audubon Center has received LEED Platinum certification.

Citation ASU College of Nursing and Health Innovation Phase 2 Owner: City of Phoenix Architect: SmithGroup Contractor: DPR Construction The rapid growth of ASU and the birth of its new downtown Phoenix campus create a special architectural and urban opportunity. A collection of two existing buildings and three newly constructed facilities thread together a cohesive and identifiable campus environment and identity. This compact, five-story building serves both as primary gateway on the campus’ marquee corner and is home to the largest nursing program in the U.S. The design delicately balances the dreams of the ultimate three-headed client. As owner, the City of Phoenix required an urban building that would aid the lack of an urban feel and shade in its downtown core. ASU required an elegant icon on a tight budget. The College of Nursing and Health Innovation desperately needed a new home, but didn’t want to lose its identity along the way.