Studio Ma has broken ground on a new mixed-use tower complex for Arizona State University in Phoenix. The downtown residence hall and entrepreneurial center aims to foster innovation and collaboration for students and the campus community. The 16-floor residential tower includes academic and interdisciplinary facilities with living space for up to 530 students. The design was made to connect with the city and regional businesses.
As Studio Mas has said, the 284,000 square-foot building features large windows and an urban paseo, forming a resource platform to support creative ventures among students, faculty, and alumni with local artists, businesses, and government agencies. The team envisaged a 16-story innovation hub concept consisting of 13 floors of student housing above three levels of academic space. They explain that the innovation hub will be wrapped in a bioclimatic façade designed to minimize energy use and glare from the desert sun, conceived with simulation software that Studio Ma is beta-testing in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The angular façade will include ultra-high performance concrete and metal panels and floor-to-ceiling windows.
The new building will optimize indoor environmental quality in all spaces including high-tech fabrication rooms and studio areas where sensitive materials and equipment are used. Geared toward such academic programs as industrial design, fashion and popular music, the innovation hub consolidates a range of entrepreneurial and community-focused programs from across ASU’s Herberger Institute of Design & the Arts. Entrepreneurial center facilities include a mix of studios, classrooms, offices, exhibition and event spaces, as well as fabrication and workshop areas with specialized equipment and environmental systems.
The team earned the commission through a highly competitive process led by Capstone Development Partners. Studio Ma was selected for its “committed leadership, familiarity with the university and market, and ability to push the envelope on design and sustainability while maintaining all budget and performance parameters.” Rounding out the project team is DPR Construction, another longtime partner of Arizona State University, as the design-build provider.
The new downtown complex is scheduled to open in the fall of 2021.
