Chia Mesa

Merit Award Winner

Chia Mesa, 2008
cityLAB/Roger Sherman Architecture & Urban Design
Los Angeles

Site: Scottsdale: 2200 N. Scottsdale Road (near Oak Street)
Design team: Roger Sherman and Dana Cuff with Miguel Alvarez, Sergio Figuereido, Quyen Luong, Travis Russett, Brendan Muha, Jennifer Gilman, Mira Henry, Daniel Phillips, Magdalena Stolarczyk, Joey Fonacier, Jessica Campion (www.rsaud.com & www.citylab.aud.ucla.edu)
Estimated construction cost: $18.82 million
Features: urban farm, bio-fuel station, shaded outdoor cafes, new brand identity

Every city needs landmarks. By default, strip malls have become the landmarks of metropolitan Phoenix. cityLAB/Roger Sherman Architecture & Urban Design's proposal transforms this banal, derided sign of disengagement into a socially conscious "cool hotspot," rebranded as environmentally involved and economically forward-thinking.

Chia Mesa turns the strip mall into an urban farm by covering the building with a 3.5- acre sloping shell of hydroponic farming. Here, algae are cultivated to produce bio-fuel for a drive-through fueling station (yielding twenty thousand gallons per acre per year as compared to eighteen gallons per acre yielded by corn). The farm also provides a site for locally produced food (up to 18,000 heads of lettuce per acre per week) to generate an estimated $2.8 million in profit per year. Chia Mesa thus returns to the greater community a semblance of the farmland that has been erased over the years by exponential land development--and reduces the carbon footprint of our food. Hydroponic (water) farming also results in a "natural air conditioning" and a desirable micro-climate. Today, with the unstable future of retail and commercial ventures and rising food costs, urban farming offers important long-term prospects.

This productive urban "green" space also creates a bonafide public destination like no other. The ambiance of the oasis will attract new kinds of tenants--natural food stores, juice bars, gyms and urban spas--and allow traditional tenants--medical, dental and law offices or corporate chains--to rebrand themselves. This project redefines the shopping experience and purports to be the public space to be.

Chia Mesa is not a one-off, splashy architectural endeavor. It is a prototype for a series of mesas that will bring dollars, higher quality of life and vision to metropolitan Phoenix. In the words of Roger Sherman, Chia Mesa could become to Phoenix what "neon is to Vegas; 'palm' islands are to Dubai; and the skyline is to New York."


Chia Mesa Merit Award Winner Chia Mesa, 2008 cityLAB/Roger Sherman Architecture & Urban Design Los Angeles Site: Scottsdale: 2200 N. Scottsdale Road (near Oak Street) Design team: Roger Sherman and Dana Cuff with Miguel Alvarez, Sergio Figuereido, Quyen Luong, Travis Russett, Brendan Muha, Jennifer Gilman, Mira Henry, Daniel Phillips, Magdalena Stolarczyk, Joey Fonacier, Jessica Campion (www.rsaud.com & www.citylab.aud.ucla.edu) Estimated construction cost: $18.82 million Features: urban farm, bio-fuel station, shaded outdoor cafes, new brand identity Every city needs landmarks. By default, strip malls have become the landmarks of metropolitan Phoenix. cityLAB/Roger Sherman Architecture & Urban Design's proposal transforms this banal, derided sign of disengagement into a socially conscious "cool hotspot," rebranded as environmentally involved and economically forward-thinking. Chia Mesa turns the strip mall into an urban farm by covering the building with a 3.5- acre sloping shell of hydroponic farming. Here, algae are cultivated to produce bio-fuel for a drive-through fueling station (yielding twenty thousand gallons per acre per year as compared to eighteen gallons per acre yielded by corn). The farm also provides a site for locally produced food (up to 18,000 heads of lettuce per acre per week) to generate an estimated $2.8 million in profit per year. Chia Mesa thus returns to the greater community a semblance of the farmland that has been erased over the years by exponential land development--and reduces the carbon footprint of our food. Hydroponic (water) farming also results in a "natural air conditioning" and a desirable micro-climate. Today, with the unstable future of retail and commercial ventures and rising food costs, urban farming offers important long-term prospects. This productive urban "green" space also creates a bonafide public destination like no other. The ambiance of the oasis will attract new kinds of tenants--natural food stores, juice bars, gyms and urban spas--and allow traditional tenants--medical, dental and law offices or corporate chains--to rebrand themselves. This project redefines the shopping experience and purports to be the public space to be. Chia Mesa is not a one-off, splashy architectural endeavor. It is a prototype for a series of mesas that will bring dollars, higher quality of life and vision to metropolitan Phoenix. In the words of Roger Sherman, Chia Mesa could become to Phoenix what "neon is to Vegas; 'palm' islands are to Dubai; and the skyline is to New York."

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Competition Board A	Competition Board B	Project Description	Submitted Technical Specification Form
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