diVert

diVert, 2008
Marlene Imirzian & Associates, Architects
Phoenix

Site: Phoenix: 17236 N. 28^th Street (faces Bell Road)
Design team: Marlene Imirzian, Helen Pierce, Saori Yamane, Sara Wheatcroft (www.imirzian-architects.com)
Estimated construction cost: $433,000
Features: low cost, widely applicable, improves air quality, supports locally owned small business

diVert proposes that strip malls be transformed via a clever and easy kit of parts—a toolkit of repeatable design solutions. The concept was inspired by the visionary teachings of Buckminster Fuller (1895 – 1983), who advocated whole-systems thinking that addresses “pressing problems in the shortest time possible while enhancing the Earth's ecological integrity."[1] diVert likewise aims to do more with less: it can be easily franchised, its components unpacked and applied to any typical strip mall, with any tenant mix. diVert offers a trim, efficient inventory of options: specialty high-tech coatings that help clean the environment; groves of trees; clear pictographs indicating customer services; supergraphic signage on shade shutters; sculptural rock forms that function as both seating and parking bollards; and optional solar power.

Behind this elegantly pragmatic, low-cost approach is the architects' commitment to fortifying the local economy by creating strip malls that provide an umbrella support system for locally owned, independent businesses, which generate an estimated 300% more money that stays in a community than national chains. (The organization Local First Arizona is a prime example of such a grassroots network.) Marlene Imirzian & Associates conceived its design to shape a strong brand image for the site—and afford collective marketing opportunities for the strip mall's small retail tenants. The firm collaborated with a professional cost-estimator and an Arizona strip-mall developer to ensure the practicality, feasibility and real-world potential of its proposal.

FotoSilox, one of the new "green" photocatalytic coatings, is applied over all the surfaces in the strip mall—parking lot, walls and roofs—blanketing and unifying the site. This amazingly advanced material uses titanium-dioxide (an ingredient common to sunscreen) and a proprietary technology that oxidizes pollutants, converting them to harmless residual substances. Activated by light, the paint breaks down toxins, bacteria and mold, thus purifying the air.

[1] Mission statement, Buckminster Fuller Challenge, Buckminster Fuller Institute, www.bfi.org.


diVert diVert, 2008 Marlene Imirzian & Associates, Architects Phoenix Site: Phoenix: 17236 N. 28^th Street (faces Bell Road) Design team: Marlene Imirzian, Helen Pierce, Saori Yamane, Sara Wheatcroft (www.imirzian-architects.com) Estimated construction cost: $433,000 Features: low cost, widely applicable, improves air quality, supports locally owned small business diVert proposes that strip malls be transformed via a clever and easy kit of parts—a toolkit of repeatable design solutions. The concept was inspired by the visionary teachings of Buckminster Fuller (1895 – 1983), who advocated whole-systems thinking that addresses “pressing problems in the shortest time possible while enhancing the Earth's ecological integrity."[1] diVert likewise aims to do more with less: it can be easily franchised, its components unpacked and applied to any typical strip mall, with any tenant mix. diVert offers a trim, efficient inventory of options: specialty high-tech coatings that help clean the environment; groves of trees; clear pictographs indicating customer services; supergraphic signage on shade shutters; sculptural rock forms that function as both seating and parking bollards; and optional solar power. Behind this elegantly pragmatic, low-cost approach is the architects' commitment to fortifying the local economy by creating strip malls that provide an umbrella support system for locally owned, independent businesses, which generate an estimated 300% more money that stays in a community than national chains. (The organization Local First Arizona is a prime example of such a grassroots network.) Marlene Imirzian & Associates conceived its design to shape a strong brand image for the site—and afford collective marketing opportunities for the strip mall's small retail tenants. The firm collaborated with a professional cost-estimator and an Arizona strip-mall developer to ensure the practicality, feasibility and real-world potential of its proposal. FotoSilox, one of the new "green" photocatalytic coatings, is applied over all the surfaces in the strip mall—parking lot, walls and roofs—blanketing and unifying the site. This amazingly advanced material uses titanium-dioxide (an ingredient common to sunscreen) and a proprietary technology that oxidizes pollutants, converting them to harmless residual substances. Activated by light, the paint breaks down toxins, bacteria and mold, thus purifying the air. [1] Mission statement, Buckminster Fuller Challenge, Buckminster Fuller Institute, www.bfi.org.

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