Revamping an 80-year-old building is not the norm in a city like Phoenix, where most residents obsess over the newest mall or subdivision. But students returning to Arizona State University's downtown Phoenix campus this month are studying and conducting student government within "new" digs built long before their parents were born.
ASU was granted usage in most of the U.S. Post Office Building on Central Avenue after ownership was transferred from the federal government to the City of Phoenix, which partners with ASU on all its downtown campus projects. The school's challenge was to adapt part of the aging interior into a modern facility, dubbed the Student Center @ the Post Office, complete with a high-tech learning center, recreation/social spaces and meeting rooms for dozens of student organizations.