ASU plans to expand the Tempe campus north of University Drive with a 130,000 square-foot project called Block 12 next fall.
The $52 million project is part of an initiative to expand the campus to the northwest, said Edmundo Soltero, assistant vice president and university architect.
The site is bordered by College Avenue at the east, Forest Avenue at the west and Sixth and Seventh streets at the north and south side of the property, Soltero said.
A small building belonging to the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts will be demolished to make space for Block 12, he said.
“(Block 12) is an important project in terms of its urban development,” he said.
Soltero said the property will be a mixed-use building and will include a marketplace, bookstore, classrooms, a community room for ASU and Tempe and a 200-seat auditorium for “Experience ASU” prospective student tours.
Soletero said the University tries to consolidate space as much as possible.
“We have a lot of programs that actually need more space, and we don’t have the available space to try to accommodate them appropriately,” he said.
Block 12 will also be the new home of the Del E. Webb School of Construction, he said.
The Del E. Webb School of Construction has been working for its own place for the past 10 or 12 years, construction professor Allan Chasey said.
“The timing’s right in order to put together the complete project that allowed us to build a place of our own,” he said.
The Del E. Webb School of Construction is a program within the Ira. A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, he said.
Chasey said the more occupational programs, such as construction, civil engineering and construction engineering, will be moved to Block 12.
“(Sustainability is) the way things are put together in order to give you the energy reduction, and (construction workers) are the ones who put the built environment into place,” he said. “(Block 12) will be a showcase of how we can demonstrate how that works,” he said.
Chasey said the building will serve around 1,000 students.
Block 12 will be a LEED gold or silver certified building, meaning it will comply with green energy standards and include many sustainable features, said Edward Gibson, director of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment.
The building will use solar energy and daylight to reduce the use of heating and artificial lighting, he said.
Soltero said University architects are designing a solar chimney to pull heat out of the building.
He said Block 12 will also have reflecting surfaces at the ground level to reduce solar heat and low-flow plumbing to conserve water.
The building will also have LEED light fixtures and the furniture they purchase will be made from recycled materials, Soltero said.
Gibson said industry partners raised about $8.5 million to help with the cost of the building.
Construction is scheduled to begin in February and the building is tentatively planned to be ready for occupancy next fall, Soltero said.
Reach the reporter at mncosta1@asu.edu
