At the end of an active runway for Scottsdale Airport in Scottsdale, Ariz., sat an unclaimed piece of land that city planners designated for a park and ride. Drawing on the versatility of metal panels to evoke thoughts of wings and flight and birds, DWL Architects + Planners, Phoenix, created more than a transit center, but also a community gathering spot.
On the 5.8-acre site, the design team, led by Michael Braun, AIA, LEED AP, and vice president of DWL, created a location that provides 275 shaded parking spaces for commuters and a passenger platform area that features a wing-inspired canopy. The canopy is clad in 12,000 square feet of custom fabricated metal panels coated with PPG Duranar VARI-Cool IR reflective coating from PPG Industries, Pittsburgh. Steelscape, Kalama, Wash., provided the metal, and the panels were fabricated by Metal Works Custom Fabrication, Phoenix.
The judges loved the dynamic wing-shaped canopy and how the metal panels gave the architectural element texture and depth. In many ways, the passenger platform reads more sculptural than architectural. Braun says, “It looks like a complicated structure, but it’s two pieces of tube steel bent at one point with cantilevered wings that bend downward.”
Braun looked at many options for cladding and settled on metal panels. “It needed to be waterproof,” he says, “and as a result of the shape of the structure, would have to be dynamic and, of course, vandal resistant.” Composite materials were too expensive, so he designed the metal panels so they used the entire width of coil for efficiency, and selected a copper-like color that shifts with the changing light from reddish copper to cactus green, depending on the angle.
“The column was meant to be a talon or landing gear to anchor the wings,” Braun says. With the complicated texture of the column’s cladding, the simplicity of the metal panels draws the eyes upward. Looking from one end of the platform, the end seams on the panels are apparent, giving texture, but from the other end, they disappear and long horizontal lines accentuate the wings length.
“The metal was the technical aspect that provided the ideal roofing material,” says Braun. “But equally important was its aesthetic. It has the look of a feather. It’s probably the only material that could have done that.”
Among the other amenities on the site are water fountains, vending machines, plasma-cut metal benches and clever bicycle racks that decorate and serve the needs of cycling commuters. Passenger comfort was Braun’s constant guiding principal and the city of Scottsdale enforced rigid sustainability requirements. Parking canopies are split into two sides so heat doesn’t get trapped beneath them. One canopy provides the platform for the photovoltaic array that provides all the energy needed to operate the facility, making it a net zero project.
Braun specified pervious concrete to help mitigate heat as well, and all the parking canopies are prepared for photovoltaics should the city want to create a solar farm on the site.
“The site was kind of a brownfield before we touched it,” says Michael. “Millings were stockpiled. It was an eyesore.” Scottsdale prides itself on its planning and this piece of land was located at the nexus of several planning corridors, so there were multiple requirements for it to fulfill. In addition, an existing maintenance building on-site needed to be separated from the commuter area. Judicious use of a textured wall and landscaping keeps the facilities separate and allows the park and ride to exist as its own architectural expression.
That expression is one of flight and beauty, encompassed in a user-friendly environment that follows the best sustainable building practices.
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North Scottsdale Park and Ride, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Completed: Fall 2013
Building owner: City of Scottsdale
Architect: DWL Architects + Planners Inc., Phoenix, www.dwlarchitects.com
General contractor: Howard S. Wright, Scottsdale, Ariz., www.howardswright.com
Metal panel installer: Metal Works Custom Fabrication, Phoenix, www.metalworksllc.com
Photovoltaics installer: Solar Electric Systems
& Products Inc., Mesa, Ariz., www.solarelectricfreedom.com
Coating: PPG Industries, Pittsburgh, www.ppg.com
Metal roof panels: Steelscape, Kalama, Wash., www.steelscape.com