New Architecture Building to be Dedicated

Johnny Cruz
Oct. 31, 2007



The University of Arizona’s College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture will dedicate its new expanded building on Nov. 1, marking the completion of a project more than eight years in the making.

The new facility provides the next generation of design professionals, architects and landscape architects with a new laboratory for learning, and the college with a facility befitting its stature as one of the top programs in the country for architecture and landscape architecture.

The dedication will celebrate a $3.2 million remodeling of the original architecture building, built in 1964, and a $9.2 million expansion, which now provides the college with nearly 70,000 square feet of space.

R. Brooks Jeffery, associate dean of the college, indicates that this new facility is designed to serve as a living laboratory for students. “The physical structure is exposed so that students gain an understanding of how the individual parts of a building come together,”

Chuck Albanese, the college's dean, considers the new building a teacher. “Anywhere a student goes he or she knows what the building is about,” Albanese said. “The structure is exposed so there is clarity in how it is supported and how the loads and forces are distributed. All the detailed connections are visible, therefore informing students how everything is assembled.”


The mechanical systems, including ductwork, are exposed so students can better understand the distribution of hot and cool air throughout the building and the amount of space systems like this require.

“In every way possible the architectural design team, who are alumni of this college, attempted to create a facility as unique to design professions as possible,” Albanese said.

The facility includes a number of new laboratories, which aspiring architects and design professionals will use for testing new materials, technologies and strategies in design and construction. Landscape architecture students can investigate how plants shape the environment in which we live.

New laboratories include a wood shop, metal shop, ceramics lab and rapid prototyping capacity.

Jeffery cites another key feature, which was initiated by the project’s lead donor, Richard Williams. “He thought people in this building needed a place to dream, a place to think about big-picture ideas and about the design profession and how we are benefiting the community,” Jeffery said. The result is the “Archon Room,” located on the fourth floor of the building, which features a panoramic view of the Santa Catalina Mountains.

The college’s vision for the new building is that it would be a model for how buildings should be constructed and one that takes advantage of the Tucson climate and the latest building materials and construction technologies.

Outside the building, an 11,500-gallon tank collects harvested water and feeds the landscaping and the research garden used by the landscape architecture students.

The entire south elevation is a welded steel mat that will eventually be a “green wall” of yellow orchid vine three stories high. This wall will filter the sun exposure to faculty offices and student spaces.

“Long before the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards were established, we were striving to be a green building,” Jeffery said. “What better place to instill an ethic of water and energy conservation than the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.”

The architecture and landscape architecture programs are both ranked among the top 10 percent of programs in the country, and new state-of-the-art classrooms, laboratories and offices will enable the college to compete with other leading design schools. “Our top priority must be the recruitment and retention of faculty,” Jeffery said. “We need the faculty, and the facilities, to continue recruiting the best students, which then develops our reputation.”

The expansion and renovation meet a student need for quality facilities as architecture and landscape architecture students spend the majority of their time in the building.

In addition, the new laboratories and learning areas were needed for the college to continue offering graduate concentration areas such as energy conservation, landscape ecology, preservation, emerging materials technologies and urban design.

”I am proud to be part of this college and to have had the opportunity to be dean while such change is taking place,” Albanese said. “This is my 40th year associated with the UA and my 37th in the college. I wish I had the opportunity to have a facility like this during my faculty years. Our students will benefit immensely and surprise us all with what they will accomplish with the state-of-the-art amenities now available to them.”

Extra info

What

College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture Building Dedication

Where

CALA East Building, 1040 N. Olive Drive

When

Nov. 1, 1:30 p.m.

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Johnny Cruz

520-621-1879

cruzj@email.arizona.edu