RICHÄRD • KENNEDY ARCHITECTS

CONSULATE GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA MATAMOROS, MEXICO

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CRUZEN-MURRAY ACADEMIC LIBRARY

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ENVIRONMENT + NATURAL RESOURCES 2

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SOUTH MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY LIBRARY

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SCIENCE + HEALTH BUILDING

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OPTICAL SCIENCE CENTER FOR APPLIED RESEARCH

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BRYANT BANNISTER LABORATORY OF TREE-RING RESEARCH

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ESTRELLA HALL

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MEINEL OPTICAL SCIENCES BUILDING

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COLLEGE CENTER, SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN CAMPUS

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ARABIAN PUBLIC LIBRARY

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INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE + TECHNOLOGY BUILDING 2

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We are not interested in the proliferation of a style or architectural vocabulary, each of our projects is seen as a singularity, a specific resolution of the program, site, and use. While budget, schedule and programmatic needs are the primary drivers for each of our projects, each has a larger conceptual response. By developing concepts and solutions, which are intrinsic to functional, technical, and programmatic needs of the building, each has a solid conceptual basis that drives the architectural solution. The clarity of the idea is the fundamental goal, the use of form, light and material the tools. It is our goal to develop a body of work that reinforces these fundamental precepts and with our clients, create great buildings and inspiring spaces.

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CONSULATE GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA MATAMOROS, MEXICO Matamoros, Mexico This project consists of a new consulate compound to be built on a 7.7-acre site in the border town of Matamoros, Mexico. The consulate compound will include a new office building, entry pavilions, support and utility buildings, onsite residences and recreational areas. This project employed the fundamental principles of design excellence; it is representative of the best of American Architecture and Government.

The design of the New Consulate for Matamoros moderates the interstitial space between the building and the perimeter with a representational “latilla”: creating a permeable extension of program space, extending the building into a conversation with its context while maintaining security requirements. The design of the perimeter of the campus is of critical importance, creating a welcoming and receptive image while maintaining security for the consulate.

The high-performance building integrates many sustainable design strategies; it is designed to meet or exceed LEED Silver Certification.

The latilla provides an open, receptive, and welcoming edge to the office building. It defines functional outdoor rooms, provides shade for consular and diplomatic functions, while providing a sense of openness and permeability without compromise to security. These exterior spaces work in concert with the consular waiting area, the diplomatic lobby, and multipurpose spaces at grade. On the second level, a series of landscaped terraces allow building occupants access to shaded exterior spaces adjacent to the gallery/café and fitness space.

The modularity of the exterior is organized about the basic planning module and internal space requirements. The stone and aluminum sheathing are panelized to create a larger block, integrating doors, windows, and required mechanical openings in a cohesive way. Each of these panels when combined creates a rain screen with an insulated layer over the concrete structure. The recesses for windows and spandrels are covered in dark bronze aluminum, striking a simple, elegant contrast. The placement of the insulation layer maximizes the benefit of exterior insulation and utilizes the thermal mass of the concrete structure. Larger window walls at the ends of the primary axis engage the structural columns supporting the latilla further integrating the building with the surrounding shade canopy.

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CRUZEN-MURRAY ACADEMIC LIBRARY Caldwell, Idaho The Cruzen-Murray library is a campus gateway that has become a signature building for the College of Idaho and a leading example of the twenty-firstcentury transformation of the library building. The new library features 60,000 square feet of enclosed floor area over three levels.

The Cruzen-Murray library is a light-filled, inviting environment with ample opportunities for exterior views. The sustainable building approach used both passive and active measures to reduce the library’s energy consumption. A geothermal heat pump system reduces operating costs and extend mechanical system life, and reduces the system life-cycle cost. Using the performancebased compliance method, it has been determined that the building exceeds energy efficiency code requirements by producing up to 67.7% cost savings.

The exterior skin is an insulated glass curtain wall which is shaded by a series of perforated metal shade fins arranged to accept natural light into the interior spaces at the appropriate times of the year and throughout each day. The shade fins spiral around the elliptical shape, rising at the entry to invite visitors to the interior space.

The main entrance at the Ground level is located on the west side of the building, which also features a terraced landscaped plaza providing access to the 24/7 technology lab area located at the library’s lower Plaza Level. The main entry leads to a curving sculptural stair taking visitors to the main reading room on the Second level overlooking the dynamic two-story entry space. A convex cedar board ceiling over the entire second level provides a warm acoustically pleasant environment. In the evening, the building acts as a softly glowing lantern on campus, lit from within via the richly expressed ceiling.

The interior is arranged with public/social spaces on the west facing the existing campus and quadrangle, and quiet study and individual spaces primarily placed on the east. The book stacks are arrayed along the eastern edge of the building on the ground and second levels. A central “core” houses classroom and office spaces and serves as a hub for vertical circulation at the library’s center. Flexibility for future technology and pedagogical needs is promoted by an open flexible floor plan and the use of access flooring for distribution of ventilation and utility resources.

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ENVIRONMENT + NATURAL RESOURCES 2 Tucson, Arizona The vision for the Environment and Natural Sciences complex (ENR2) began over two decades ago with a University-wide initiative to push the boundaries of sustainable design. The University’s goals: this project is the centerpiece of environmental research, the building should have a definable iconic identity, with a truly integrated holistic solution to sustainability, serving as a living and learning laboratory, and be the most sustainable on campus achieving LEED Platinum Certification.

Organized about a central “slot canyon”; curvilinear anodized aluminum ribbons define the walls of the central canyon, recalling the terra cotta walls of the natural canyon, leaning overhead, and falling away. The vertical striations of the anodized scrim recall the desert varnish pattern of the Navajo tapestry and the canyon walls. As in the natural environs, each terrace reflects the elevated desert floor, with native trees, grasses, shrub, and stone. The canyon floor is a sand and stone dry bed, which gathers the rainwater and guides it into storage cisterns for reuse.

The climatic response of the building borrows from the slot canyon; its massive stone walls provide both cool thermal mass and critical shade from the intense summer sun. The precious thread of water and active evaporative cooling combined with solar chimneys to motivate air movement, and the diurnal temperature swings provide natural thermal flushing of warm air during the evening hours. The extensively planted gardens on each level of the building act as outdoor gathering space for the flanking office wings.

Laboratories and communal spaces are organized about the courtyard. A café opens to the ground level court providing the social and interaction space as a catalyst for collaboration. The high occupancy meeting and auditorium spaces are located on the ground floor of the building to provide easy access, as well as animate the ground plane. Flanking office blocks are organized on accessible flooring systems for flexibility and adaptability over the lifespan of the building. The roof garden serves as the artificial ground plane for a departmental conference room, and an extensive roof terrace for atmospheric experimentation and instrumentation.

ENR2 incorporates many sustainable strategies. It gained LEED points for its water efficiency, waste management, use of sustainable materials, indoor environmental quality, and innovative design. The building has an outdoor air system and induction coils or active chilled beams, an innovative system, that when combined works together to heat, cool, and ventilate the building. The building also is efficient in its water usage, resulting in a 40 percent reduction in the amount of water used annually. The water harvesting system is expected to capture 260,000 gallons of rainwater runoff

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SOUTH MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY LIBRARY Phoenix, Arizona The new 51,000 sf facility integrates the social, academic, educational aspects and functional requirements of a college campus library with the popular and community based nature of a public library. This joint use library accommodates the needs of campus requirements for vivid, innovative pedagogy, and the City’s need for a fresh vital community library. The library features public use computing commons, 200 seat multi-purpose meeting space, collaborative classrooms, conference room, quiet group study rooms, cyber café, archive room, multi-media center, pod cast studio, and a library staff workroom.

Additionally, an extensive teen and children’s areas, a children’s library and story time room are connected to the exterior courtyard dedicated for children’s use.

This state-of-the-art building is modeled after the architecture of an integrated circuit, providing insulation between disparate functions and promoting interaction and connection between like functions and spaces.

Academic programs affiliated with those within the public library are organized around vertical interconnected spaces; providing a discrete connection while maintaining critical organization within each discipline. Natural light is brought deep into the diagram through a series of triple insulated clerestory monitors through a series of light shafts to the floors below. The interior of the building is lined in an acoustical cedar wood, frosted and laser cut acrylic panels reflect patterned abstractions of the agriculture that once was an integral part of the community.

Deliberate in its rectilinear form, the building derives from the extrusion of program elements both vertically and horizontally, creating opportunities for internal connections, exterior views, natural daylight, and access to exterior spaces. The building consciously merges interior and exterior spaces to connect to the rich history of the site. The articulated exterior skin of weathering copper is designed to provide a naturally ventilating skin, and triple layered insulated clerestories provide a high-performance enclosure.

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SCIENCE + HEALTH BUILDING Flagstaff, Arizona The program for the Science + Health Building consists of departmental offices, lecture halls, classrooms, teaching labs, research labs, and a new central chemical distribution facility for the entire chemistry department.

The building is seen as the “home” for chemistry, featuring the pedagogy of interdisciplinary teaching and research.

The building is a mixture of spaces to support the academic and research missions of the University. The programmatic layout allows long-term flexibility to adapt, meeting changing needs. The goal is to have the Science + Health Building serve as a pivotal scientific center of excellence for the campus, complementing the planned growth of the science quad. The building takes advantage of panoramic mountain views as it creates a vital linkage between key elements of the campus.

The building design is an open, flexible research platform with a multi-level atria space that provides open interaction and group study rooms adjacent to faculty and graduate student spaces. The atrium is naturally ventilated during the summer and solar heated during inclement winter months of Flagstaff.

To minimize vertical movement of students, the first two levels include large lecture halls and mediated demonstration classrooms.

The building integrates a centralized chemical receiving and storage facility, resolving issues with the current chemical handling protocols for the north campus. Independent chemical and lab service distribution permits the “people” side of the building to be open and inviting, promoting interaction between students, faculty, and researchers.

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OPTICAL SCIENCE CENTER FOR APPLIED RESEARCH Dover, Deleware The Optical Science Center for Applied Research (OSCAR) is a state-ofthe-art research facility where students, professors, and scientists use cutting edge technologies to help solve real-world problems. The building supports graduate, doctoral, and post-doctoral, programs in optics within the Department of Physics and Pre-Engineering at Delaware State University (DSU). The project addressed space requirements for future growth of the optical research programs and faculty while remedying the inadequacies of the current facilities related to the nature of optical research.

The concept of the new building is built around the prism as an iconic device in optics research. The geometry of the prism transforms the nature of the light passing through it. In the same way, the building is transformed by its reflective skin as it fades into the landscape and sky, its form being defined and dissolved by ambiguities of perceived solidity and transparency.

A myriad of dynamic spaces were created with an interdisciplinary emphasis focused on enhancing opportunities for quality interactions between scientists, students, faculty, staff, and the various research groups to promote the exchange of ideas and collaboration. A mediated 150-seat auditorium allows DSU to host or virtually attend lectures, conferences, and events intended for the sharing of ideas and knowledge.

A portion of the facility will be dedicated to fostering the development of start-up companies built on innovative applications of optical research. The Incubator will offer on-site office, and optical laboratory accommodations, as well as access to the other resources within the building. Moreover, it will give entrepreneurs the opportunity to work closely with principal university investigators, and students to develop their ideas into marketable products and create ties between the academic and private sectors.

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BRYANT BANNISTER LABORATORY OF TREERING RESEARCH Tucson, Arizona The Bryant Banister Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research is the world leader in Dendrochronology Research. The new 35,000 square foot building is the centerpiece for the Tree-Ring Lab, housing a myriad of advanced research laboratories, faculty and research offices, and support material processing spaces. A primary function of the building program is the consolidation of a collection of irreplaceable wood samples into an archive in the 21,000-sf renovated building adjacent to the new structure.

The building design is an abstraction of the forest structure: a columnar stand of trees with an overstory of filtered shade. Steel columns are randomly clustered and are expressed for their full forty-foot height. The building is permeable on the ground floor, which houses exhibit and outreach space, opening this prized collection to the public, a major goal of the project. This simple steel structure is supported on the trunk like columnar structure, and shaded by a veil of aluminum, shielding the building from the hot desert sun; the existing building will provide a future green roof platform for conferencing and breakout space. The materials chosen for the building envelope are simple, used innovatively, generate significant cost-savings, and require minimal maintenance eliminating costly upkeep.

Laboratories are located along the southern edge of the building which is reinforced for vibration control maximizing the open lab configuration. Lab support is located internally within the laboratory block for adjacency, and to allow for a view into the labs from the corridor. Faculty offices flank the east and west allowing the big “picture window” view to north of the Catalina Mountains from the open floor to plan. All perimeter spaces utilize clerestories to get maximum daylighting to the interior. The ground floor contains a doubleheight lobby with exhibit areas featuring displays from the archived collections.

The multipurpose room is directly accessed from the lobby. The exterior plaza is configured for exterior exhibit and gathering areas for faculty and student use.

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ESTRELLA HALL Avondale, Arizona The expansion of the existing Estrella Hall is a new centerpiece and reorients the campus to the future direction of the masterplan. Recognizing the importance that the landscape plays in the definition of Estrella Mountain Community College, the building is designed to reinforce the fabric of the campus by continuing the development of a series of linked garden spaces. Conceived as a pavilion within the landscaped campus core, the building is a backdrop for the garden spaces around it. Due to the footprint of the expanded building a concerted effort was made to promote permeability and visual openness of the ground floor, elevating discrete solid functions to the second level.

Functions such as the computer commons and campus library previously located in the existing building were relocated to the expansion. The new conferencing center with a 4,000 sf meeting space sits aside the expansion, its form in dialogue with the inflected wall of the expansion’s overhanging upper story.

The first floor of the existing Estrella Hall was renovated to expand the Information Technology area, provide new classrooms, and accommodate the primary tutoring functions in the open commons area. The existing sunken floor level was brought up to grade maximizing flexibility. This common open space extends the library and computing commons into the expansion, housing the library and computer commons, lounge and reading spaces.

Above the alternating two story daylit spaces, functional “bridges” follow the pattern of the existing building. This configuration allows daylighting in the core of the building, minimizes the noise and distraction concerns of a single large central space, and provides access between offices and classroom spaces.

Faculty offices and support spaces have an internal windowed view to the daylit two-story spaces. New learning studios are organized to promote lingering between classes, with walk up discussion spaces, organized collaboration, study rooms, and faculty offices in close proximity.

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MEINEL OPTICAL SCIENCES BUILDING Tucson, Arizona This project is an expansion and partial renovation that houses state-of-the-art optical research labs, faculty offices, auditoria, conferencing, and interaction spaces for this preeminent university research institution whose mission is “The science and application of light”. Occupying a prominent site on the University mall, it is the first of a series of clusters that will replace the existing buildings over time.

The building is an abstraction of a “Camera Obscura” or “Dark Room”. Within the simple volume, daylight is introduced by a series of apertures in the skin, interacting and modulating the spaces within. A series of vertical light shafts, each feature a specific optical surface, penetrate the building and terminate in a series of two-story interaction spaces. Offices and interaction spaces are gathered around these two-story spaces, with views of the Santa Catalina Mountains to the North. Due to the need for absolute darkness, the optics laboratories are clustered along the Southern, “blind” elevation. The upper level contains a conferencing center and glass enclosed rooftop terrace, and the lower level lobby area houses exhibits and auditoriums.

The cast in place concrete building is sheathed in a treated reddened copper alloy recalling the color of the campus brick. The skin is a breathable “rain screen” protects the inner shell from the intense desert sun and eliminates surface sealant joints. As an interpretation of a Fresnel lens, the northern glass wall is folded as a response to the existing buildings textural façade creating apparent mass and transparency. Purposeful folds in the copper skin permit the passage of rainwater piping and lab exhaust, rendering a sculptural surface in the monolithic faces of the building.

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COLLEGE CENTER, SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN CAMPUS Apache Junction, Arizona The College Center is a true mixed-use project, uniquely tied to its sense of place along the foothills of the Superstition Mountains. The open and interactive program provides many types of learning spaces to fit a diverse student body.

Spaces include student services, science teaching labs, classrooms, library, tutoring center, computer commons, offices, community room, café, and bookstore.

The new ‘heart’ of the campus, the College Center is sited at the center of campus, bridging an existing arroyo that provides a unique link to the microclimate of the desert landscape. A key goal of the College was to present a new face to the community and build an iconic centerpiece to the campus that would create precedence for future growth.

The building layout was organized by creating two centers: the student commons, defined by floor to ceiling glass and a large folded ceiling that spans across open learning spaces; the second by a group of five science teaching labs with a technical focus. The two centers are linked by a bridge occupied by offices and lounge areas that provides an academic link between functions.

Open lounges and learning spaces, combined with a café, open computer lab, and exterior patio space encourages collaborative and flexible learning.

Tutoring and library services are easily accessible off common areas offering extended learning opportunities and casual interaction.

Building materials were chosen for their tie to local contextual references, durability, and sustainability. Forms and surfaces of the building recall rugged mountain bluffs and folded foothills of the Superstition Mountains. Exterior surfaces include integral color concrete with a hand screed finish, copper panels with natural patina, low-E insulated glass, exposed structural steel, and acoustic cedar ceiling panels. Natural finishes and structural longevity are inherent in all materials providing long life span with little to no maintenance.

The material palette creates a distinct look, which provides context and inspiration for future development of the campus.

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ARABIAN PUBLIC LIBRARY Scottsdale, Arizona The unique program of this public library is based on contemporary bookstore concepts and includes a popular library with a 120,000-volume collection, as well as a coffee bar and bookstore elements. The program also includes a children’s program room, two multipurpose rooms, computer training center, and a dedicated teen area.

The building is a remembrance of the desert slot canyons of northern Arizona and Monument Valley, capturing the powerful and unique experience between the compressive stone walls and the ultimate release to the sky above. Everpatient threads of water, sculpting and polishing the massive walls, cut these natural sandstone canyons over millennia. Harder stone and slow water sharply define vertical slivers while softer stone gives way to form the wider crevasse. The library echoes this powerful natural sequence.

Organized about a central court, the building is entered through a “slot canyon” of steel and glass. Walls of weathered steel plate reflect the terra-cotta red walls of stone as they lean in overhead, then fall away from the entry path opening to the sky above. The steel walls of the building support a gravel and stone roof, utilizing natural materials from the site.

A continuous thread of water echo’s the natural erosion of the canyon wall creating the powerful imagery of the building, and eventually pooling at the edge of the courtyard. A singular tree is the focus of the space. The centralized court is used as a pre-function and program spaces for the library and meeting rooms. Two slender “canyon courts” flank the west and south sides of the building, expanding library lounge spaces to the exterior and ultimately opening the building to the sky and desert floor again.

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INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE + TECHNOLOGY BUILDING 2 Tempe, Arizona This building is designed to support a myriad of programmatic needs.

Current programs include Advanced Pavement Research, Soils Dynamics, Fluid Dynamics, Thermodynamics and Combustion Research, Geology, and Hydraulics and Structures Testing including a 110 Kip Reaction Strong Floor.

Open, unassigned shell space was created to provide for new programs and attract research to the campus.

The Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 2 is conceptualized as “Living in the Machine”, a tectonic expression and weaving of its systems and programs, reflecting its purpose as an engineering and research facility.

Primary building systems and distribution are housed in the exploded section with air handling, piping, data cabling, and common building services all exposed within the centralized courtyard flanked by open flexible loft lab spaces. This configuration minimizes penetrations and fixed elements in the laboratory space maximizing flexibility and adaptability.

In response to the harsh desert climate and the need for bulk material movement to the labs the building’s linear shaded courtyard, 280 feet in length and over sixty feet in height, is enclosed by perforated corten steel panels, providing a balance of natural daylight with filtered shade and tempered space.

Six large air moving fans circulate large volumes of air, while courtyard misting systems provide evaporative cooling on a pre-programmed cycle depending on seasonal need. The tempering of the space reduces air temperature by as much as 20 degrees at the peak of the year. The courtyard replaces the need for internalized circulation that would have had to be large enough to accommodate forklift traffic and bulk materiel handling to the lab.

The central court provides gathering, conference, and lounge spaces at each level to promote interaction within the interdisciplinary environment. A series of meeting “Enclaves” are provided at the upper levels, including a pair of crystalline rooms hung from the structure at the mezzanine level, which focus on creating opportunities for casual interaction between researchers, faculty, and students. Private offices and open research support spaces are located on the second level of the central court. The use of OSHA safety colors and patterning reinforce the hyper-industrial quality of the space.

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