INTRODUCTION

From the X-Square competition website: “X-Square, a transdisciplinary initiative of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University, aims to transform an otherwise unremarkable brick courtyard on the northern edge of ASU’s Tempe campus into a vital gathering place for students, faculty and visitors. The now empty square resides between the Art Building and the Design South Building, a space at the fulcrum of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.”

To read all the competition rules and guidelines, visit the website HERE

Project Team (left to right): Joe Pritchard (Master of Architecture), Mike McDearmon (Master of Science, Design), John Lee (Master of Architecture), Kelsey Wiskerchen (Master of Fine Art), and Taylor Townsend (Master of Architecture)

Our project team chose a user-centered design approach to the space that began with a phase of extensive field research. Employing design research techniques like video ethnography, direct observation, interviews, and photography, we sought to better understand how people engaged with the existing plaza, what helped facilitate their actions at the site, and what could be improved.

In addition to providing a comfortable and useful space for visitors of the plaza, we wanted to create a landmark that would draw students from other parts of the university campus to the site.

Kids dig it, too.

Video observation of the site prior to design: 3 hours during a weekday in optimal desert winter weather conditions (68 degrees and sunny)

Construction of the installation: 90 steel plates, over 1500 welds, artificial grass, 550 PVC pipes, and different fabrics for the alternating shade canopy

Video observation of the site after construction: 3 hours during a weekday in late spring weather conditions (90 degrees and sunny)