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Knowing that researchers from all over the world would be visiting this facility we saw this grade change as an opportunity to showcase two biomes of the desert - the bajada and the desert riparian arroyo. In addition, the Architects elevated the buildings on a 5’ plinth above the street. We saw an opportunity to create a unified new entry into the campus on both the north and south sides of busy Terrace Road by encompassing and renovating this existing retention basin and by adding retention to the north side. Typically these are graveled basins void of any plant life. Most of the Phoenix area is required to hold storm water on each individual project site because there is limited storm water infrastructure in most municipalities. We saw the existing retention basin next to the parking garage as a huge opportunity - even though it technically was not part of the project. We were inspired by the opportunity to use this project to showcase ASU President Michael Crow’s vision of a new American University that has sustainable impact at both local and global levels. During master planning we were also asked to conceptualize a future pedestrian mall at Tyler Street located north of the site including the integration of a future light rail station platform and a major City of Tempe bus transit facility. The design program included major multi-modal circulation along Terrace Road, entry plazas to the new buildings and outdoor gathering places - particularly in relation to the location of a future conference center. These goals inspired our design intent to create an environment that is about healing and sustaining life: tearing out existing asphalt to create permeable, vibrant, shade-giving regional gardens with plants used for healing purposes connecting people in an urban setting through judicious use of hardscape integrated with the natural beauty of our long ago altered Sonoran Desert and celebrating and incorporating water produced by the building and its systems to feed the native garden. The Biodesign Institute strives to prevent and cure disease, to overcome pain and limitations of injury, to renew and sustain our environment and to secure a safer world. Our scope was site master planning and landscape architecture. The site is bounded by Tyler to the north and McAllister to the west. The south boundary of the project originally was Terrace Road but during the master planning phase an existing sterile retention basin next to a major parking garage south of Terrace was included by the urging of the landscape architect. Terrace Road enters the site from Rural Road and is a major entry point to the east campus zone. It is east of Rural Road - a major arterial connecting Tempe with Scottsdale. The 4-acre Biodesign Institute site is located at the Tempe campus of Arizona State University. The setting provides an opportunity to promote sustainable practices in a busy public space. Plazas are nestled into a desert riparian garden that harvests storm water and condensate from the architecture while creating urban habitat for student gathering and study. This project unites the site of a new research facility and creates a green gateway experienced by vehicle passengers of a major arterial to ASU where parking lots and a sterile retention basin once existed.
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