Architects

richrd+bauer
Location
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724, United States
Architect
richrd+bauer
Project Team
James Richrd (AIA, architectural designer), Kelly Bauer (FIIDA project manager + interior design),
Stephen Kennedy (AIA, NCARB, project architect + CA), Erik Koss (RA, project architect), Andrew
Timberg (RA, LEED AP, staff architect + CA)
Engineer
ARUP
Civil Engineer
KPFF Consulting Engineers
Landscape Architect
Sage Landscape Architecture and Environmental
Lab Consultant
Earl Walls, Inc.
Contractor
Lloyd Construction Company, Inc.
Area
47000.0 ft2
Project Year
2006
Photographs
Bill Timmerman
From the architect. 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. 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.
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. As an interpretation of a
Fresnel lens, the northern glass wall is folded as a response to the existing buildings textural
faade 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.