Page 45 - ArchDC_Winter 2019

Photo by Christopher Peli
View from above before the
renovation and rooftop addition.

AZ
AZ

in DC
in DC View from above showing the rooftop addition and terrace. Note the extended

windows at ground level, accommodating the lowered first floor.

Arizona State University

Puts Down Roots in the Capital

by Steven K. Dickens, AIA, LEED AP

Arizona State University (ASU) is one of the largest Project: Ambassador Barbara Barrett & Justice
universities in the United States, with some 60,000 Sandra Day O’Connor Washington Center at
students attending classes on its main campus in Arizona State University,
Tempe, plus another 50,000 at satellite campuses and 1800 Eye Street, NW, Washington, DC
online. In the past, ASU was perpetually at the top of
rankings of “party schools,” but in 2002 its then-new Architects: CORE architecture + design
president, Michael C. Crow, set the course for a different Structural Engineers: Shemro Engineering
vision: the “New American University” model, Crow MEP Engineers: Girard Engineering
called it, in which, among other things, the school Civil Engineers: Wiles Mensch Corporation
Geotechnical Engineers: Schnabel Engineering
would measure itself “not by whom it excludes, but Historic Façade Engineering Consultants: Odeh Engineers, Inc.
rather by whom it includes and how they succeed.” LEED/Specifications Consultant: Rosa D. Cheney, AIA, PLLC
“One university in many places,” is a key piece of Owner’s Representative: Monarc Construction
Crow’s concept—the university works to be convenient General Contractor: DPR Construction
for the student, rather than the other way around.
Distance (internet) learning is central to this, of course: buildings bringing state-of-the-art learning facilities
some 30,000 of ASU’s students are enrolled in online to a wider range of students—and bringing students
programs and don’t actually go to physical classrooms. and faculty to varied places relevant to their studies.
But offering a broader reach and higher-quality brick- This program was effective in attracting funding from
and-mortar classrooms and other academic facilities both public and private sources, covering costs for
also figures in, with numerous new campuses and an immense increase in students from families with

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