ASU Walton Center for Planetary Health

The site for the Walton Center for Planetary Health/ISTB7 is at the eastern gateway to Arizona State University’s Tempe campus. The site is also the gateway to the campus’s Research Corridor and is at the edge of the campus that faces the new Novus Innovation District.

The site is triangular, bounded by two major arterial streets on the north and east and the Valley Metro light rail (including a light rail stop) that runs at an angle on the south side. The building design was defined by the unique site geometry – responding to the opportunities of the historic features, the campus / city circulation nexus, and the work of the researchers inside. The use of the building program to define an exterior courtyard space is a time-tested concept in the Sonoran Desert.

The strategy of lifting the building off the site and linking it not only to the research corridor to the south on the ground but also across University Drive to Novus on the second level allows visual and physical access between the campus, transit stop, and the city at this important gateway and allows visitors to investigate the labs and real-time science. Selfshading strategies derived from cactus inform the shell of the building while the courtyard reveals how shade, color, and water are combined to create a habitable and inviting oasis.

The building massing references passive solar shading techniques inspired by ancient indigenous dwellings of the southwest. The building is lifted to provide a shade network during the summer months while allowing an increase in southern light into the courtyard during the winter. The lifted south wing of the building celebrates the existing canal and connects the courtyard to the Research Corridor. Water from the non-potable canal network is utilized to drip irrigate the plantings on site.