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Parking Magazine: Phoenix Biomedical Campus Garage Beats Desert Heat

Original Source:  "Phoenix Biomedical Campus Garage Beats Desert Heat" by Jess McInerney for Parking Today

Image of Parking Magazine: Phoenix Biomedical Campus Garage Beats Desert Heat Photo by Bill Timmerman

Located in the heart of downtown, the city-owned Phoenix Biomedical Campus is a 30-acre urban medical, bioscience and educational campus. When built out, the full campus will consist of 6 million square feet of biomedical-related research, academic and clinical facilities.

Screens Naturally Ventilate Structure

In addition to providing a rich, textured façade, in keeping with the architectural context of the campus, metal screens and paneling allow for breezes to naturally cool and ventilate the parking structure. The metal paneling also provides shade within the garage. The team also reduced energy consumption by utilizing LED lighting with motion sensors and photocells.

Trees Reduce Arizona Heat

A canopy of native paloverde trees shades the pedestrian walks, gathering spaces and retail space fronting the plaza, reducing direct heat gain. All of these strategies combine to reduce the environmental impact of the garage as well as operating costs for the developer.

Owner: Boyer Company

Design Architect: Smith GroupJJR

Structural Engineer and Parking Planner: Watry Design, Inc.

Parking Stalls: 1,211

Levels: 8

Total Square Footage: 397,000

Retail Square Footage: 2,250

About the Author

Jess McInerney, SE has been creating parking solutions for nearly 30 years. He is a licensed engineer in 5 states. Jess is responsible for the design of over 200 parking projects and leads parking structure design for the firm. An active member in the Urban Land Institute, Jess has both written and spoken on the future of parking, the cost of designing for adaptive reuse, mixed-use parking, below grade parking and the integration of Photovoltaics into parking structures. 

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