Through Variety of Renovation, Expansion Projects, City’s Core Is Being Reshaped into Biomedical Research Hub

From a major historical renovation project for The University of Arizona (UA) to the construction of the first phase of a new campus for Arizona State University (ASU), downtown Phoenix has been undergoing a marked transformation into a nucleus of bioscience and medical research—and DPR has been in the middle of this change.

Working collaboratively with a unified and diverse group, including the city of Phoenix, the Arizona Board of Regents University System and independent research entities, DPR has helped turn the vision for a more vibrant urban city core into reality as it completes a series of renovation and expansion projects in the heart of downtown.

DPR’s significant role in building the Phoenix downtown has encompassed:

• the Arizona Biomedical Collaborative, a joint integrative research project between ASU, UA and the City of Phoenix, currently underway;
• the now completed and operational City of Phoenix TGen Headquarters;
• the recently completed UA College of Medicine project;
• phase one of the ASU Downtown Campus expansion project.

In the latter two cases, existing and historical buildings have been transformed for reuse as the universities expand their programs to meet student and community needs.

UA College of Medicine

The UA College of Medicine, in collaboration with ASU, is expanding its current medical school in Phoenix to include a four-year program. The project required the renovation of three historic buildings, formerly part of the Phoenix Union High School (PUHS) campus, into an 89,000-sq.-ft. College of Medicine located on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus at Copper Square.

Originally constructed in 1911, a year before Arizona became a state, the buildings that housed the PUHS campus for more than 70 years (until the school closed in 1982) held both historic and sentimental value within the community. The challenge for the project team, which included DPR as the contractor and SmithGroup as the architect, was to retain the historic value of the buildings while transforming the Neoclassical structures into contemporary facilities.

While all three buildings were renovated to preserve the historic exterior elements, significant work had to be performed to make the structures suitable for modern-day use. The poor condition of the wood structure in Building 1 (formerly the Domestic Arts Building)—damaged by time and termites—required extensive rework. Crews shored the un-reinforced masonry exterior wall with specially designed shoring to completely rebuild the three-story structure on the interior. To increase usable space, new core structures had to be built for Buildings 1 and 3 and attached to the existing historic structures with only a bridge connection. Building 2, originally a theatre and auditorium during the high school era and later converted for use as a popular community concert hall and theater, was renovated to its original state—both its interior and exterior. A new three-story structure was also added within the auditorium to provide additional classroom space. This “building within a building"only touches the historic building at the edges of the perimeter walls.

The most significant part of the exterior renovations involved the installation of operable wood windows that were virtually identical to the originals. The auditorium was the focus of major interior rehabilitations, including plaster ceilings and ornamentation, wood staircases and reuse of the original wood flooring.

Behind the historic facades, the buildings also were outfitted with the latest technology associated with medical education, such as educational clinic exam rooms and student discussion rooms with teleconference capability. Completed last September, the new College of Medicine will welcome its initial first-year class of 24 students in August of this year. Plans call for the class size to grow to 150 students per class.

City of Phoenix, ASU Downtown Phoenix Campus

Working as a design/build team, DPR and SmithGroup also recently completed the first phase of ASU’s master-plan for a 15,000-student, full-service campus in the heart of downtown Phoenix. Phase one, a 360,000-sq.-ft. redevelopment of three existing buildings, will serve as the hub of the new downtown campus and house the expanding College of Nursing, School of Public Programs and a Student Services Department.

Converting three, 20-50 year-old structures that were originally designed as offices into lab space and student services was a major challenge for the team, particularly in the face of an extremely fast-tracked, 14-month schedule that allotted for programming, design and construction. All services had to be available and operational for classes beginning August 22, 2006. Major improvements also had to be made to the existing mechanical and electrical systems to make the most efficient use of the new spaces, improving and replacing building infrastructure.

DPR took ownership of the total project costs early on to allow the team to make informed decisions about critical decisions in a timely manner. The team provided alternate solutions and ideas with real-time cost estimates to meet the city’s needs for the building improvements, while still meeting the demanding needs of the education requirements of a state university.