999 Playa

Commercial Office

Architecture

166,350sf | 15,454sm

Tempe, Arizona

Transparency and weightlessness give presence to this six-story office building. An infill project sited adjacent to the freeway in the Tempe Town Lake District, this westbound gateway marker is composed in silver and blue tones with abundant glazing. Tenant spaces at grade activate the northern front with parking behind, all under two floating ‘trays’ of structured parking; the main three-story volume of office shell appears to levitate above. With roughly 95,350 sf of rentable office, the structure is characterized by raw materiality. Exposed concrete columns and post-tensioned slabs are left exposed on the interior—allowing floor-to-floor glass and expansive views.

Burdened by a restrictive site, the building relies on extreme efficiency in form to maximize its rentable area. Born from passive thermal techniques, the duality of the transparent north facade and the more solid south mass is emphasized through the juxtaposition of visually weightless glass, and the dark navy mass behind. Horizontal datums provide a tiered effect of floating planes, hovering just above the Lake.