Commuter Center:
Community room is jewel of transportation center
Marcy Marro,
Posted
10/01/2009
One of the
first transportation and community mixed-use buildings to be
submitted for LEED Platinum certification, the $25 million Tempe
Transportation Center in Tempe,Ariz., includes retail, city offices
and leased office space, and serves as a link for light rail, bus,
bike and pedestrian activities.
The 40,000-square-foot (3,716-m2) facility opened in December 2008,
coinciding with the start of Metro light rail operations. The three
story building anchors the west side of the transit plaza, uniting
the light rail with buses, bicycles, the city government plaza and
the Arizona State University campus. The city's transportation
offices share space with the first bike station in Arizona,
connecting Tempe's 165 miles (264 km) of bike paths with secure
indoor storage, shower and locker facilities, and a bike
repair/maintenance area. There are 13 bus bays that serve local and
regional passengers, in addition to shuttles that connect downtown
to surrounding neighborhoods and the Arizona State University
campus.
"We felt that the
transportation center presented a real opportunity to showcase
sustainability to the community and provide a source of information
of what green building is really all about," said Bonnie
Richardson, AIA, LEED AP, architect/planner with the City of Tempe
Transportation.
"We tried to incorporate a lot of sustainable strategies in the
Tempe Transportation Center as it serves as an interface with the
city's multi-modal transportation network of bus, bike and
pedestrian traffic from downtown Tempe with Metro light rail," said
Tom Wilhite, principal civil engineer, Capital Improvements
Construction Section, City of Tempe Public Works/Engineering, who
served as construction project manager. "As we strive to become a
sustainable community,we thought this would be the right facility
for incorporating sustainable strategies."
The "jewel of the
setting," according to Richardson, is the center's
1,200-square-foot (112-m2) community room, which floats above an
urban terrace. It's appearance as a faceted gem is aided by
Alucobond aluminum composite material from Alcan Composites USA
Inc., Mooresville, N.C. The room's walls and roof are clad in the
custom Spectra Green, while its underside is clad in
Platinum.
The project features a total of 16,000 square feet (1,486 m2) of
0.16-inch (4-mm) Alucobond, including 7,700 square feet (715 m2) of
Alucobond Platinum and 8,300 square feet (771 m2) of Alucobond in
custom Spectra Green. The Alucobond Platinum was fabricated into
570 panels for the main building and 160 panels for the soffits.
The community room utilized 420 panels in SpectraGreen, with 150
types of angled sizes created through precise 3-D shop drawings.
The Alucobond panels were installed in a route and return dry
system on the main building and a route and return wet system on
the community room.
The Alucobond
Spectra Colors change colors as different wavelengths of light are
reflected back to the audience, depending upon the viewing angle.
For example, Richardson said the community room's custom Spectra
Green panels sparkle in the sunlight in shades ranging from a
golden green to a deeper shade of green with any number of fine
color variations in between.
Cascade Coil, Tualatin, Ore., supplied 2,833 square feet (263 m2)
of stainless-steel wire mesh fabric that was made into 14 mesh
panels. The panels were used for security mesh around the external
stairs, guardrail panels and the south wall of the building,
creating an "Arizona room" concept for the south balconies of the
building.
The LEED Platinum
certified building features a variety of cutting-edge environmental
strategies including the first climate-appropriate living roof,
featuring native Sonoran desert plants; the city's first gray water
system utilized by a commercial building; low-flow fixtures; solar
bus shelters; underfloor air system; recycled acoustical ceiling
tiles; and wheat grass mill work. The building was designed to be
52 percent more energy efficient than similar buildings and
features natural lighting and views in all regularly occupied
office spaces.
"Throughout the process, we felt it was important to set our sights
high," Richardson said. "This is the first city project to
incorporate a desert green roof. These are native desert plants
that require very little maintenance. Once they're
well-established, they will cover the roof. This is a unique green
building concept for the Southwest region. One of our first
priorities in the desert is to be water-conscious."
Designed as a 100-year facility, sustainable strategies were
incorporated in all aspects of the project from the public
transportation site to the development of the innovative
storm-water retention and re-use system. Building materials were
required to have recycled content and construction waste was
reduced by 90 percent.
Tempe
Transportation Center, Tempe, Ariz.
General contractor: Adolphson & Peterson
Construction, Minneapolis
Construction manager: City of Tempe Public
Works/Engineering
Architects: Architekton, Tempe, and Otak, Lake Oswego,
Ore.
Wall panel fabricator: Elward Systems Corp., Lakewood,
Colo.
Wall panel installer: Elward Construction Co.,
Tempe
Wire mesh fabricator: Magnum Companies, Phoenix
Wall panels: Alcan Composites USA Inc., Mooresville,
N.C.
Wire mesh fabric: Cascade Coil, Tualatin, Ore.
www.cascadecoil.com; www.alucobondusa.com