Palo Verde Library / Maryvale Community Center
The City of Phoenix proposed to re-invigorate the heart of Maryvale [Western version of Levittown, NY] with a new Library / Community Center inside its original 14-acre Park. The Urban Design approach first brokered key parking variances to preserve the large ball field and other recreational amenities, insuring Maryvale Park would remain the ‘green heart’ of this 54-year-old community. Additionally, the new Library / Community Center aligned with the existing pool such that all civic programs would front 51st Avenue, a major North / South arterial. Parking lots were separated and fully shaded by native Palo Verde trees to reinforce the park setting and diminish the urban heat island effect. Lastly, a small corner of the old park was preserved as a contemplative buffer for the Library and as a window into this historic site.
Palo Verde Library / Maryvale Community Center
The City of Phoenix proposed to re-invigorate the heart of Maryvale [Western version of Levittown, NY] with a new Library / Community Center inside its original 14-acre Park. The Urban Design approach first brokered key parking variances to preserve the large ball field and other recreational amenities, insuring Maryvale Park would remain the ‘green heart’ of this 54-year-old community. Additionally, the new Library / Community Center aligned with the existing pool such that all civic programs would front 51st Avenue, a major North / South arterial. Parking lots were separated and fully shaded by native Palo Verde trees to reinforce the park setting and diminish the urban heat island effect. Lastly, a small corner of the old park was preserved as a contemplative buffer for the Library and as a window into this historic site.
Palo Verde Library / Maryvale Community Center
Similarly-scaled ‘big-box-volumes’ clad in stainless steel hover upon a horizontal glass base, allowing the ‘mind / body dialogue’ inherent within this mixed-use program to speak to each other and to the street. Lower masonry volumes to the west house smaller program elements that diminish the scale of the project park-side. A 400 foot long light-spine connects all the program elements, Library / Community Center / Pool. Energy saving day-lighting comes in at the top and base of the big-box-volumes, providing a beautiful mixture of balanced, glare-free natural light with the warmth of recycled wood used on the walls of the library and the floors of the community center.
The immateriality desired for the upper portion of the street volumes is achieved with a custom cladding system we developed specifically for this project. Bypassing expensive shop production, full height 1/8” thick mill finish [2B] stainless steel sheets are stretcher-leveled from standard 4’ wide sheet coil, sheared every 24’, and palleted for delivery to the building site. 2B mill finish stainless steel, which is only manufactured in thicknesses between 7 and 12GA, possesses a unique quality that absorbs light and color more than it reflects them. We imagined that the canopies of the trees within the historic Park and the new parking gardens could figuratively move through the mass of the building reinforcing the site as a Park.
