Sustainable City
Chandler CARE Center
Phoenix-based Brignall Construction began the $2-million Chandler CARE Center on Aug. 8. It was designed by the Tempe office of BCDM/Barduson Architects.
Funded by Chandler Unified School District voters, the city of Chandler, the Chandler Regional Hospital and Foundation and private donations, the Childrens Assistance Resources & Education center will serve those in need with medical, dental, food, clothing and training programs. Volunteer doctors, nurses, fire-fighters, dentists, teachers and police officers will staff the CARE center, notes its director, Susan Scott Horan, Ph.D.
Brignall is tracking LEED silver for the Childrens Assistance Resources & Education center. LEED credits include high-efficiency water closets and urinals and daylighting through multiple solartubes and skylights. The facility will save more than 15% of energy compared with similar facilities, says Tammy Parker, director of marketing and business development for Brignall. The general contractor has also required subcontractors to use low VOC-emitting materials and do multiple cleanings of the site every day.
Chandler City Hall
The city’s new focal point structure, the five-story Chandler City Hall at South Arizona Avenue and Chicago Street, is tracking LEED gold but eyeing platinum. The Phoenix office of SmithGroup designed and is serving as MEP engineer for the $47-million urban redevelopment project. The Tempe office of Sundt Construction, as construction manager at risk, began construction in April.
The SmithGroup team, led by Mark Roddy, AIA, LEED AP, design principal, created an “urban-edge,” pedestrian friendly design that connects with adjacent city departments and to AJ Chandler Park. The central council chambers are clad in glass and will be a glowing beacon at night.
SmithGroup’s sustainable design leader Jeff Stanton says that the design maximizes daylighting through its east-west orientation, increased glazing on north and south exposures and narrow floor plates.
The building should also gain LEED credits from indoor air quality, both during construction and when the building is occupied, notes David Hanson, LEED AP, assistant project manager for Caliente Construction. MERV-8 filters at thereturn air grill, for example, were installed because the permanent air handling unit was used during construction, he says.
On the south facade, angled fins bounce light into the interior while at the same time provide shading for the glass in order to reduce glare and heat gain. In addition, the building incorporates a smart lighting-control system utilizing photocell technology, which adjusts the indoor lighting to available daylight.
The building�s photovoltaic system, atop the parking structure, will develop energy that can be sold back to the power company, says Fred Friedl, project manager for Sundt.
He adds that the building incorporates a gray-water recycling system in which cooling tower blow-down water will be dumped into an underground storage tank and then used for landscape irrigation and toilets and urinals.
Key Players
Javelina Hall/Ironwood Hall
Owner: Chandler-Gilbert Community College
Architects: Gabor Lorant Architects (JH); Architekton (IH)
General Contractors: D.L. Withers Construction (JH); Caliente Construction (IH)
Chandler CARE Center
Architect: BCDM/Barduson Architects
General Contractor: Brignall Construction
Chandler City Hall
Architect: SmithGroup
General Contractor: Sundt Construction
