Polymorphic Polytechnic
Evolution of Air Force Base to College Campus
Continues with ASU Polytechnic

By Scott Blair

The $66 million ASU Polytechnic Complex blends interior space with the exterior in an innovative design intended to set the tone for future development at the one-time Williams Air Force Base turned college campus.

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Can an old dog learn new tricks?

Arizona State University believed a closed-down military base in east Mesa, Ariz. could when it took over part of Williams Air Force Base in 1996 and began offering nearly 1,000 students academic degrees in technology and management under the name ASU East.

In 2005, the successful campus morphed into the ASU Polytechnic Campus to reflect the changing academic direction of the school, which today offers more than 30 academic programs in arts, sciences, mathematics and technology to nearly 7,000 students.

In October, the school began another evolution with the groundbreaking of the $66 million ASU Polytechnic Academic Complex, a collection of buildings that will add 255,000 sq ft of space to the campus.

“The design intent was to create the beginning of the New American University campus design that would unify the existing campus, establish a master plan backbone for future growth and celebrate the ASU Polytechnic identity,” says Beau Dromiack, AIA, senior associate with the Tempe office of architect-of-record RSP Architects, who designed the structure with Lake|Flato as design architect.

ASU’s New American University initiative is a 10-year plan for the school to become the model of a modern metropolitan research university that advances social and economic development in Arizona.

Phoenix-based DPR Construction Co. was selected as the construction manager-at-risk and began working with the architects on pre-construction for the fast-track project several months before the groundbreaking.



The collection of buildings is aligned along an east-west pathway that links the building courtyards with portals through each building. “In actuality there are 11 buildings that we are constructing, but they are arranged in three pods,” says Lew Laws, project manager with DPR. Each pod contains two narrow, parallel structures sharing a common atrium, and a structure jutting out at one end making an ‘L’ shape. These three structures together encompass 80,000 sq ft in each pod.

Each of these structures will contain classrooms, office space and wet/dry laboratory space to support the multitude of academic disciplines being brought together in the buildings.

The atrium and ‘L’ buildings are all three stories, with covered catwalks connecting them together on each floor.

“The buildings are designed around three-story atriums that are fully covered by perforated metals panels on the horizontal surfaces and open on the vertical surface for ventilation,” Dromiack says. “Each atrium has three large fans for increased air circulation. The design intent was to create dynamic pedestrian environments that offer a cool, pleasant experience.”

Each pod also contains a unique auxiliary building. In the west pod, this will be a 12,000-sq-ft lecture hall and office building.

“The east auxiliary building is a performing arts studio and a black box theater, which is exactly what it sounds like: a box capable of hosting any kind of presentation or stage performance,” Laws says.

The center pod’s auxiliary building is an existing structure that formerly housed the air force base’s movie theater. “It’s going to eventually get renovated and become part of the pod, where they’ll use it as an auditorium,” Laws says. “The renovation isn’t part of our contract but the connection to the building is.”

The construction team is pursuing LEED silver for the project, which will include waterless urinals, extensive exterior window shading and ample desert landscaping to reduce heat gain.

“We also have some photo-voltaic panels, but not enough to capture that LEED point,” Laws says. “There is a solar studies group on this campus so they are supplying some photo-voltaics for study purposes.”

Each building will be outfitted to have larger solar arrays in the future. “There are architectural pop-ups on the roofs that are angled in such a way as to catch the southern sun and can accept the [solar] panels, and we will have the electrical backbone installed for when they decide to put the panels on,” he says.

The first stages of construction required the demolition of two existing buildings and a parking lot. “100% of the demolished material was diverted from landfills,” Laws says.

“We actually crushed some of the asphalt onsite and reused it for some of the parking lots out here for the owner.”

Crews have six different dumpsters for sorting construction waste. The goal is to attain the LEED points for diverting at least 75% of the waste. “We’ll beat that by quite a bit,” he adds.

The steel-framed buildings sit above 217 caissons, each 4 ft wide and 16 ft deep.
Phoenix-based Schuff Steel was the structural steel contractor and Paragon Structural Design, also of Phoenix, was the structural engineer. The two worked closely on the structural design.

“We had to order all of our steel members before design was complete, so that guided the design,” Laws says. “Everything was erected in just two months and a day, for a total of 1,900 tons of steel, so it went well.”

Ground-face masonry block will comprise approximately 60% of the exterior skin.

Other materials include several varieties of metal panels and a window wall system.

“The atrium spaces will balance the block and metal panels with western red cedar, which will create a visually warm and pleasant experience,” Dromiack says.

“The building materials are designed with durability and connection to the existing Polytechnic campus as their primary purposes,” he adds.

The project is scheduled for completion in June, with classes starting in Fall 2008. 

Key Players

Owner: Arizona State University
Architects: RSP Architects; Lake|Flato
General Contractor: DPR Construction Co.
Engineers: Paragon Structural Design; Wood Patel & Associates
Subcontractors: Bel-Aire Mechanical; Grindel Fire Protection; Hardrock Concrete Placement; S. Diamond Steel; Schuff Steel; Sun Valley Masonry; Walters & Wolf; Wilson Electrical Services

Useful Sources

Watch the construction happen in real-time at the site’s webcams at http://site1.poly.asu.edu and http://site2.poly.asu.edu

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