5 minute read

A structure dedicated to tomorrow's world

The newly dedicated Rob and Melani Walton Center for Planetary Health, the new headquarters of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, is a demonstration of what is possible in well planned, sustainable and aesthetic design. While the energy- and water-saving technologies deployed in the building are meant to be a guide for future structures, the principal value, especially for those who occupy this facility, is situated deeper. The building is a place where discovery, learning, problem – solving, networking and engagement flow together to advance the goal of shaping tomorrow today — not just in concept, but in practice. Thus, the greatest value of this space is that it enables the kind of collaboration that breaks new ground.

We begin with people as we look to imagine an Anthropocene for all life on our planet. We must draw from all expertise and knowledge systems to envision holistic pathways for near- and long-term futures in which life thrives on a healthy planet. That’s why this building is the home to transdisciplinary researchers and centers, as well as space for the public to convene. The building is occupied by a large number of initiatives, institutes, centers and programs, including the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, its College of Global Futures, the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation, the Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service and the Institute of Human Origins, to name a few. All of these entities are positioned to come together with the public in the “theater in the round” auditorium that offers the best forum for exchange and engagement. The building’s atrium provides additional gathering and meeting space, where the design incorporates a rebuilt indigenous canal to honor and remember the Akimel O’Odham and Piipaash peoples who lived on this site. Also preserved adjacent to the canal are elements of a 130-year-old rail line that served local agriculturalists and a segment of the nation’s first coast-to-coast highway, an intersection of three major innovations as a gateway to this unprecedented facility dedicated to responsible innovation.

As scientists and scholars, we know that innovation rarely happens in a vacuum. Breakthroughs are often cumulative, building on previous observations and experiments to bring forth new theories, processes or technologies. For this reason, the Rob and Melani Walton Center for Planetary Health is designed to reinforce connectivity. The spaces were configured with purpose. As we planned the interiors, we asked: How will the space be used? What functions will the space facilitate? How will people come together? We needed a space equipped to support spontaneous creativity, where people can have “what if” conversations. The 280,000-square-foot building includes 140,000 square feet of programmable space. Each floor has formal and informal meeting spaces, where researchers, scholars and students can engage in brainstorming sessions and ad hoc collaborations. Each of those spaces includes technology to enhance co-working and virtual meeting capabilities. Many of the spaces are designed for informal interactions, where people of different perspectives can kindle co-created ideas. These accessible spaces are constructed to deemphasize hierarchy and perceived boundaries.

The Rob and Melani Walton Center for Planetary Health also includes 70,000 square feet of laboratory space. Wet labs, where safety equipment allows for the use of chemical and other hazardous materials, are included on every floor. Dry lab spaces, which accommodate uses such as computing, cybersecurity, engineering design and fabrication, and robotics, are available throughout the building. On the ground level, passersby can watch innovation in action through windows into active laboratories.

As we look to the future, we also recognize the past. On level two, the transdisciplinary Institute of Human Origins, one of the premier research centers on the science of our beginnings, provides context for humans’ development, as well as impacts of past global change on human behavior. A replica of the hominid Lucy, discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia by the institute’s founding director, is on display — the skeleton provided consequential evidence regarding human evolution.

We must never lose sight of this building’s ultimate purpose: the creation of ideas that enable a thriving future. We are not there yet; one must only look at the present challenges to see what we’ll face in the coming years. In February, when Russia invaded the sovereign nation of Ukraine, the world witnessed what the future will hold if autocracy continues to rise. This spring, the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that the impacts of global warming are happening more rapidly than predicted and exhorted us to do more now. People continue to die from the COVID-19 pandemic globally. And right now, there are an estimated 870 million people who don’t have enough food. Our new building is more than an elaborate research and active learning facility; it is where we work together with students, with community members, with business leaders and with our global partners to produce scalable solutions to a complex and highly interlinked set of challenges that allow for positive futures. Let us do more for those suffering now and and prevent suffering for those generations who will follow us.

The Global Futures Laboratory is an evolving enterprise, designed to morph and develop positive outcomes for tomorrow, today. We have a unique set of foundational elements in this space. Building upon these extraordinary capacities, we will contribute to a better future.

Peter Schlosser

Vice President and Vice Provost, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, Arizona State University

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