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Holly Street

Studio

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Arizona State University

Media & Immersive eXperience Center

Arizona State University

Media & Immersive eXperience Center

The ASU MIX Center is the anchor to a budding Innovation District in Downtown Mesa. The three-story, 118,000 square-foot mixed-use academic and community building houses programs in media arts, film production, and entrepreneurial development. 

More than a university building, it is a timely project exemplifying the power of public education to spark economic vitality and human connection through the celebration of storytelling. Since opening, it’s one of Mesa’s most populated public places - throughout the year, day and night.

  • Overview

    Within an existing mid-century campus, the building nestles in to create shaded walkways, with reflective, insulating terracotta panels - housing spaces of contrast: light/dark, solid/void, quiet/loud, with flexible, socially inclusive spaces connected to open-air paths for public use. The theater volume greets visitors from the west, revealing the ‘presenting’ program; the long, porous volume to the east contains the ‘making’ program with studios and workshops; while the public-facing ‘celebrating’ program provides a high density display facing the park for free sharing of cinematographic work created within; while sourcing renewable energy, retention through bioswales, shade trees and a new city park.

    Site

    Previously an asphalt parking lot, The MIX Center is a prime example of how sustainable transformations can elevate our experience of the built environment. Exposure to heat and sunlight are by far the most impactful elements of the Arizona climate. Large shade trees, native plantings, a new flexible shade structure, generous overhangs at the building entrance, and the accessible open-air lobby ensure travel through the site without exposure to harsh elements for too long. Native vegetation has been restored after decades as a heat island with new pathways forged to take visitors through and above naturally filtering bioswales, retention zones and landscaping, offering unique experiences of the environment from every point arrival to the site. Over the course of the building's life and as future developments at the complex take place, the MIX Center and Plaza will remain as the precedent for eco-friendly site design in the downtown core.

    Program

    Fine arts and technical programs utilize augmented reality, virtual reality and 3D modeling and visualization to teach and develop technology and design tools with the potential to impact industries as diverse as healthcare, aerospace, manufacturing, and entertainment. The building contains 51,000 SF of fabrication labs, ideation spaces, art studios, film studios, immersive environments & maker spaces balanced with highly technical environments focused on human-centric collaboration, featuring indoor-outdoor gathering spaces and two state of the art screening theatres.

    Impact

    The project sets a precedent for future Intergovernmental Agreements between public institutions, where multiple priorities are harmonized to create sustainable and transformative mixed-use developments. After just two years of operation, ASU, the City of Mesa, + private developers are poised to build upon the MIX Center’s success, with new projects under review, and a previously cautious populace ready to continue the momentum and keep moving the vision forward.

  • Location

    Mesa, Arizona

    Project Owner

    City of Mesa 

    Building Tenant / User Group

    Arizona State University

    Construction Budget

    $63.5m

    Project Size

    118,000 square feet

    Completion 

    April 2022
  • Co-Design Architect

    Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

    Landscape Architecture

    Colwell Shelor

    Construction Manager at Risk

    DPR Construction

    Civil Engineer

    Dibble Engineering 

    AV / IT / Acoustics 

    NV5 Technology & Design

    M.E.P. + Structural Engineering

    Arup
    Photography

    Matthew Millman + Grey Shed Studio

  • AIA Arizona

    Distinguished Architecture Award 2024

    Goodwin Collaboration Award 2024

    Arizona Public Works Association

    Project of the Year 2023

    Engineering News Record Southwest

    Best Project Award 2022

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Photography Credit Jialong Xu, ASU

Exhibition: Lamentation at the Liesbeek
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Photography Credit Jialong Xu, ASU

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Photography Credit Jialong Xu, ASU

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Additional Photos

Courtesy ASU

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Photography Credit Jialong Xu, ASU

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Photography Credit Jialong Xu, ASU

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Photography Credit Jialong Xu, ASU

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