by Jeff Serbin | Dec 3, 2013 | Architectural Planning, Architecture, Blog, Interiors, Planning
Sidewalks are traveled slowly by foot, taking us from point A to point B. They aren’t measured in Miles per Hour(MPH) but in Cubic Feet. Most of the time we traverse them without much thought. They aren’t typically architectural masterpieces of design, but monotonous slabs of grey concrete.
Existing sidewalk before replacement.
Sidewalks come in many colors, textures and finishes like that sweater you bought on Cyber Monday from American Eagle, but placing too much design may be trendy or outdated in years to come. A nicely designed sidewalk although can complement a building when designed properly. In the case of Digital Realty’s Data Center building in downtown Phoenix, the sidewalks are meant to take a back seat and not compete but complement with their new architectural façade.
Digital Realty East Sidewalk after construction.
In 2012, Digital Realty revitalized their facility at 120 East Van Buren Street. The building sits upon a downtown city block in Phoenix and is surrounded on all 4 sides by sidewalks. The building which originally housed The Arizona Republic Newspaper when constructed in the 1940’s, now houses Digital Realty’s Data Center. It’s sidewalks over the years had morphed into a variety of colors, textures and finishes. The sidewalks which were owned and maintained by the City of Phoenix, had bits of sandstone and pink concrete to reflect a south western motif. It was not complimentary to the forward looking façade and was haphazardly cut and replaced to allow for a variety of utilities that had been installed over the years. This made the sidewalks a bit of an eyesore. Landscape was not cohesive and City of Phoenix street lighting was inefficient. Archaic high pressure sodium lighting surrounded the site, not new energy efficient LED which are becoming the norm.
Digital Realty South Sidewalk after construction.
So in 2012, Serbin Studio and Digital Realty began the master plan design of new sidewalks around the facility. Digital’s brand is modern and sleek, representing the digital world of fast moving data. Their speed is more reflective of a Porsche Carrera GT driving 208 MPH than a Honda Accord in the slow lane.
Digital Realty South Sidewalk after construction.
In 2013, Serbin Studio’s design was constructed for the new sidewalks, updated LED site lighting and landscape by DPR Construction. The sidewalks around Digital Realty are containing a fast and furious digital world, bringing you data not in MPH miles per hour or cubic feet, but in mbps megabits per second.
by Jeff Serbin | Nov 20, 2013 | Architectural Planning, Architecture, Blog, Collaboration, Graphics, Interiors, Planning
Last summer, I had the opportunity to travel along the Western coast of Washington State in the Olympic National Park. It’s vast mountain ranges with it’s hundreds of thousands of acres of pristine undisturbed forests, it’s 73 miles of coastline, give you a sense of tranquility. However, I stumbled upon something which left me feeling unsettled.
Tsunami warning
We visited a well-known coastal beach, Ruby Beach. It’s very impressive with it’s monumental Sea stacks. On our way down the path to the beach I saw a very dis-concerning sign. What to do in the event of a Tsunami, where to go! My plans to spend hours building an 8th Wonder of the World sand castle only be destroyed by a wave was squashed.
This evacuation plan essentially said “Run like hell to the highest point!” I definitely would obey if I saw a looming wave coming my way. All I could conjure up was videos I had seen on YouTube of the Tsunamis around the globe. Tranquility (T-RAN-Quility), no more.
As an architect, one of our responsibilities is to create buildings which are safe that have a clear path to exit, just in case you have to “Run”. We all had fire drills in elementary school, right?
Exit Plan
Recently, I had the opportunity to prepare one of these plans for a building. By code, a building has to prepare evacuation maps (floor plans) for public buildings to teach people how to exit from that building. Who better else to do so, an Architect. In a small building, it’s likely obvious, but when you are within a large building with multiple floors and various paths of travel, it does become important.
This building has 6 floors and over 300,000 square feet. The plans typically show where the stairs, elevators, fire extinguishers and the fire pulls. I learned at elementary school never to play with one.
The code doesn’t really tell you where they should go, just what should be on them. Typically it’s at the elevator lobby. Essentially, the plans are graphic design projects because they have to be clear, accurate and look pretty.
Exit Plan Enlarged
So hopefully in your travels on a Washington Coast beach or within a large building, you’re only running when nature calls.
by Lara Serbin | Aug 22, 2013 | Architectural Planning, Architecture, Blog, Collaboration, Data Center Design, Planning
In 2010, Digital Realty, a world wide data center company completed an exterior upgrade on a local Phoenix landmark building. The building was built in 1947 for the Arizona Republic and then bought in late 90’s by Sterling [now I/O], and purchased by it’s current owners, Digital Realty in 2006. Isn’t is interesting that the building was built for a newspaper printing company with steady news on paper and now it has digital data constantly flowing in through colorful cables. This is Jeffrey’s post, but I had to add that.
On a hot May Day back in 2012, Gary and I took a walk around the building. It is located smack in the middle of downtown Phoenix, bounded by major streets named after past Presidents. We have Van Buren on the South side, Polk on the North and 1st and 2nd streets frame its East and West boundaries. As we walked the exterior, Gary pointed out sidewalks with various finishes, irregular cut sandstone (cheesy Southwest), salmon colored concrete (making you hungry), and grey concrete (exciting). It had been butchered throughout the years to allow for utilities to enter the building, feeding it power, water and data.
We both agreed something needed to be done to bring the sidewalks up to the sleek elegance of the recent exterior building make over including new texturing, paint, lighting and signage. We both knew the City would expect something in return for upgrading sidewalks. Did they want our first child?
In a long extensive back and forth tennis rally, working with the City of Phoenix Streets Department, Economic Development, we came to an agreement on new LED street lighting, with a resolution to who was to install and pay for this extra expense that we did not anticipate or plan to cover.
The project is now in final stages of completion. Sidewalks have been pulverized into small pieces, removed and replaced with new shiny, ok actually dull grey concrete which compliments the Grey Digital exterior and matches the City of Phoenix standard sidewalks. The new plants add a touch of green. Digital Realty exterior upgrade at 120 East Van Buren will be complete.