Tempe Performing Arts Center Competition
Tempe, Arizona
This competition entry for the Tempe Performing Arts Center, with van Dijk Pace Westlake Architects/Hodgetts + Fung integrates a sculptural, dynamic building form with the scale and swerving landforms of the site lining the Rio Salado Parkway. The earthwork is the central idea of the project, serving as an organizing feature for the site program. To the west of the building, the landform creates the southern edge of a public park where irrigation ditches and the shade of native vegetation cool the desert floor and create an informal pattern of gardens, open, and intimate spaces to explore. Looking out from the notches cut in the earthwork the park resembles an agricultural pattern and serves as a public shade farm.