Shepley Bulfinch is growing its way to a new home this summer when its moves into the south Rotunda at the landmark Phoenix Financial Center.
For the past five years, the Phoenix architecture office has called The Link, its studio at 1st and McDowell, home. When they started to outgrow the space last year, they knew they were looking for something more than square footage. With its distinctive inverted concrete arches and domed roof, the south Rotunda could not have been a better fit for this design-centered practice.
The opportunity to call this mid-century landmark home was irresistible, according to principal Joe Herzog. “This building will be 50 years old this year. I think there’s some amazing symmetry with us as an architecture firm that’s reintroducing ourselves to the community with this move,” he said.
The design of the interior renovation is now underway, with a move-in date this summer. In the meantime, Shepley Bulfinch is setting the stage for Modern Phoenix week by hosting the Reinvent Phoenix community design workshop in the Rotunda space starting tonight.
“Phoenix Financial Center represents not just a time period for America, but a really important time period in the development of Phoenix,” said Herzog. “I think this can be one of those landmarks that really pushes the edge of what downtown really is.”
The Phoenix Financial Center, comprising the South Tower and two rotundas, was designed by Peruvian-born architect in W.A. Sarmiento and opened in 1964.
