Phoenix City Council selected Arizona-based architectural firm Krause as the winner of the C40 Cities Reinventing Cities Initiative to develop Phoenix’s Resource Innovation Campus.
The Council voted to enter into a contract with Arizona-based architectural firm Krause to develop Phoenix’s Resource Innovation Campus. Through its design, Krause and their collaborators will target a fully carbon-positive building and Living Building Challenge certification, the most rigorous sustainability certification in the world. The campus’s design will move the needle for the City of Phoenix’s goal of achieving 50% waste diversion by 2030 and zero waste by 2050, becoming a lynchpin to Arizona’s future, serving as an incubator for public-private partnerships and fostering sustainable business growth in the region.
“Phoenix has been a national leader in developing circular economy solutions that divert materials from landfills and turn waste into resources. This is an exciting step forward that builds upon this leadership and promises transformational, sustainable development in an important part of our city,” Mayor Kate Gallego said. “Twenty acres of unused land at the 27th Avenue transfer station will be designed for the Resource Innovation Campus, redefining how the built environment and the circular economy can be interwoven in a transformation development that celebrates the beauty of the Rio corridor and provides amenities for our community to enjoy. Combining state-of-the-art technologies with an innovative, community-minded design creates a new vision for a resilient desert business park that our residents can be proud of.”
The 20-acre site of the future RIC is just south of the central business district at the 27th Avenue Transfer Station campus in the Estrella Village community. Estrella Village has been a manufacturing hub in Phoenix for more than half a century. The RIC provides an opportunity for job growth and economic revitalization in this historic area, and intersects with Senator John McCain’s legacy project, Rio Reimagined, which was created to restore and strengthen more than 55 miles along the Salt River and Gila River and create educational and promotional opportunities to protect the river’s ecosystems.
“Our design approach to Phoenix’s Resource Innovation Campus begins where the typical approach ends. Rather than seeking incremental improvements, we went beyond checklist-minded sustainability certifications in an effort to truly give back to the community and our environment through design,” said Michael Krause, Partner & Senior Designer at Krause. “RIC’s design will provide companies the opportunity to develop and research new technologies, ultimately creating a circular economy that benefits local business and residential communities alike.”
The C40 Reinventing Cities competition strives to promote the development of zero-carbon developments worldwide and support local economies by repurposing underutilized sites and integrating innovative solutions to environmental and urban challenges.
