Penumbra

Penumbra: Lite-Mall/Light-Market 2008
Studio Luz Architects
Boston

Site: Tempe: 524 W. Broadway Road (near Roosevelt Street)
Design team: Hansy Better Barraza, Anthony Piermarini, James Henry www.studioluz.net, with consulting engineer Christopher Bull, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
Estimated construction cost: $3.75 million
Features: fabric roof structure with photovoltaic panels and "roof pond" convection-cooling system, interior passageways, sidewalk activity, 24/7 usage

The work of Studio Luz [light] aptly reflects the firm's name: its proposal for Flip a Strip tames and dapples the harsh desert light by capping the strip mall with an innovative eco-friendly roof-and-shade system. (A penumbra is "almost shade"—and the term used by Isaac Newton [1643 – 1727] for the shadow given by a partial eclipse.) Penumbra: Lite-Mall/Light-Market captures usable sidewalk spaces for each tenant and establishes a vibrant, peopled zone between parking and shopping.

The architects created interior passageways in the buildings to increase retail access and frontage. They suggest a mix of occupants to ensure synergy and 24/7 usage (for example, a ballroom dance studio, an exercise or yoga facility, a juice bar, restaurants, small retail and professional services). Studio Luz imagines a range of communal events under the luminous, cooling roof canopy: craft sales, farmer's markets, music and art fairs.

The primary feature of this proposal is the complex roof system, of which Studio Luz built a prototype just for this exhibition. The roof is designed to reduce energy consumption and increase the efficiency of tenants' mechanical systems (HVAC). Both parking lot and buildings are shaded by an expansive mesh of fabric panels outfitted with flexible photovoltaic panels that would help generate power for the buildings. A grid of roof ponds underneath functions as a "thermal sponge" to conduct heat away from the buildings. At night, the roof panels pop up to vent heat and to cool the pond water with night air. The system continues with walls that are solar thermal collectors and releasers (called Trombe walls, an idea patented in 1881 but not widely used until the 1960s). These circulate cool water into the lower levels and further remove heat by convection.

Basic components of this eco-friendly approach may be very familiar to longtime Arizonans: evaporative "swamp coolers" and interior atriums (which provided cross-ventilation and evapo-transpiration), were standard means of dealing with the intense desert summers before the advent of refrigeration air-conditioning.

Made possible with generous in-kind support from Savannah Trims, Miami, who provided the SkyShield Suncontrollers. ^TM

Additional in-kind assistance provided by Michael Scimeca, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; Bud Saggal, Precision Laser Inc., Pawtucket, Rhode Island; Crosslink USA, St. Louis; E-Lite Technologies Inc., Trumbull, Connecticut; and Sandhill Plastics, Kearny, Nebraska.

Special thanks to the design/build team members Jonathan Louie, Jamie Pelletier, Jesen Tanadi, Julia Jamrozik and Timothy de Coster; and to consultants Shadi Khadivi, Gene Kennedy and Steve Welker.


Penumbra *Penumbra: Lite-Mall/Light-Market* 2008 Studio Luz Architects Boston Site: Tempe: 524 W. Broadway Road (near Roosevelt Street) Design team: Hansy Better Barraza, Anthony Piermarini, James Henry www.studioluz.net, with consulting engineer Christopher Bull, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island Estimated construction cost: $3.75 million Features: fabric roof structure with photovoltaic panels and "roof pond" convection-cooling system, interior passageways, sidewalk activity, 24/7 usage The work of Studio Luz [light] aptly reflects the firm's name: its proposal for Flip a Strip tames and dapples the harsh desert light by capping the strip mall with an innovative eco-friendly roof-and-shade system. (A penumbra is "almost shade"—and the term used by Isaac Newton [1643 – 1727] for the shadow given by a partial eclipse.) Penumbra: Lite-Mall/Light-Market captures usable sidewalk spaces for each tenant and establishes a vibrant, peopled zone between parking and shopping. The architects created interior passageways in the buildings to increase retail access and frontage. They suggest a mix of occupants to ensure synergy and 24/7 usage (for example, a ballroom dance studio, an exercise or yoga facility, a juice bar, restaurants, small retail and professional services). Studio Luz imagines a range of communal events under the luminous, cooling roof canopy: craft sales, farmer's markets, music and art fairs. The primary feature of this proposal is the complex roof system, of which Studio Luz built a prototype just for this exhibition. The roof is designed to reduce energy consumption and increase the efficiency of tenants' mechanical systems (HVAC). Both parking lot and buildings are shaded by an expansive mesh of fabric panels outfitted with flexible photovoltaic panels that would help generate power for the buildings. A grid of roof ponds underneath functions as a "thermal sponge" to conduct heat away from the buildings. At night, the roof panels pop up to vent heat and to cool the pond water with night air. The system continues with walls that are solar thermal collectors and releasers (called Trombe walls, an idea patented in 1881 but not widely used until the 1960s). These circulate cool water into the lower levels and further remove heat by convection. Basic components of this eco-friendly approach may be very familiar to longtime Arizonans: evaporative "swamp coolers" and interior atriums (which provided cross-ventilation and evapo-transpiration), were standard means of dealing with the intense desert summers before the advent of refrigeration air-conditioning. Made possible with generous in-kind support from Savannah Trims, Miami, who provided the SkyShield Suncontrollers. ^TM Additional in-kind assistance provided by Michael Scimeca, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; Bud Saggal, Precision Laser Inc., Pawtucket, Rhode Island; Crosslink USA, St. Louis; E-Lite Technologies Inc., Trumbull, Connecticut; and Sandhill Plastics, Kearny, Nebraska. Special thanks to the design/build team members Jonathan Louie, Jamie Pelletier, Jesen Tanadi, Julia Jamrozik and Timothy de Coster; and to consultants Shadi Khadivi, Gene Kennedy and Steve Welker.

Click the links below to open the files in a new window or right-click and select save as to download to your computer. Please note that some files may be more than 15MB and take additional time for download and display.
Competition Board A	Competition Board B	Project Description	Submitted Technical Specification Form
Please note: all files may not be represented for each firm, e.g. Competition Board B does not exist in every instance and has been combined with Board A.