Project Location
Phoenix, AZ
Area
279,000 SF
Sustainability
Adaptive Reuse
Achievements
Nearly $70M returned to county taxpayers
Preservation, Philosophical Change, or Both?
The numbers tell a story of preservation: 1,050 tons of steel reused, 32,500 tons of concrete saved from landfill, and nearly $70 million returned to county taxpayers. But the deeper achievement is philosophical. Where impenetrable walls once blocked light and view, floor-to-ceiling windows now connect 600 employees to the rhythm of downtown Phoenix. Secured recreation yards have become rooftop gardens offering unprecedented amenities. And an imposing plenum has given way to public plazas and welcoming lobbies that reactivate a once-lifeless quadrant of the city’s civic fabric.
Isolation once defined the building’s purpose, and now collaboration fills its halls showcasing adaptive reuse’s impact beyond the structure, serving as a social metaphor for change.
Structure Sees a New Light
The design of the six-level, 279,000-SF building introduced transparency without compromising the structural integrity of the original cast-in-place concrete structure. The same cast-in-place concrete that once symbolized separation now provides thermal mass for energy efficiency. The high floor-to-floor heights that accommodated detention cells now deliver the volume and flexibility that would be cost-prohibitive to recreate in new construction.
Re-purposing this vacant building through adaptive re-use as a Class A office building presented a unique opportunity. Today, DLR Group’s design reconnects the building to the urban context and in the process enhances the urban street and pedestrian environment.
