Meinel Optical Sciences Building Tucson, Arizona Optical Research Labs, Architecture, Faculty
Meinel Optical Sciences Building
Tucson Building, Arizona design by richärd+bauer architects, USA
Apr 6, 2014 + May 25, 2011
Location: University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
Date built: 2006
Design: richärd+bauer
Meinel Optical Sciences Building in Tucson
photo : Bill Timmerman
Meinel Optical Sciences Building Design
This project 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 features a specific optical surface, penetrate the building and terminate in a series of two story interaction spaces.
photo : Bill Timmerman
Offices and interaction spaces are gathered around these two story spaces, with views to 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.
photo : Bill Timmerman
The cast in place concrete building is sheathed in a reddened copper alloy treated 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.
photo : Bill Timmerman
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.
images : Bill Timmerman
Meinel Optical Sciences Building – Building Information
Project name: Meinel Optical Sciences Building
Location: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Size: 47,000 gsf – new building, 6,000 gsf – renovation
Cost: 14M
Completion Date: May 2006
Owner: University of Arizona
Contractor: Lloyd Construction Company, Inc.
Photographer Credit: Bill Timmerman, Timmerman Photography, Inc.
Meinel Optical Sciences Building Design Team
architectural designer: James Richärd, AIA
project manager + interior design: Kelly Bauer, FIIDA
project architect + CA: Stephen Kennedy, AIA, NCARB
project architect: Erik Koss, RA
staff architect + CA: Andrew Timberg, RA, LEED AP
lab consultant: Earl Walls, Inc.
engineering: ARUP, Los Angeles Office
civil engineering: KPFF Consulting Engineers
landscape architect: Sage Landscape Architecture and Environmental
Architecture Awards
2006 AIA Arizona Honor
2006 AIA Western Mountain Region Honor
2006 IIDA SW Chapter PRIDE Award Best of Show
2006 IIDA SW Chapter PRIDE Award Design Execellence in the Educational + Institutional Category
2007 AIA National Honor Award for Excellence
images : Bill Timmerman
Location: University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
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