Gould Evans and Wendell Burnette make urban and social connections at the PALO VERDE LIBRARY AND MARYVALE COMMUNITY CENTER in Phoenix

摘要

Just as balancing the mind and body can create a healthy person, integrating learning and physical activity can produce a successful community hub. Such was the thinking behind the Palo Verde Branch Library and Maryvale Community Center, which opened in January on the west side of Phoenix and represents an unusual collaboration between two city agencies, the library system and the parks and recreation department, and two local architectural firms— Gould Evans and Wendell Burnette Architects. While the Phoenix office of Gould Evans—headed by Jay Silverberg, AIA—and the architect Wendell Burnette, AIA, had both established reputations for inventive responses to the desert environment, the city agencies had pursued very different approaches to architecture in the past, with the library system hiring innovative Modernists such as Will Bruder and Richaerd+Bauer [RECORD, May 2006, page 152, and January 2006, page 96], and the parks department viewing building in a more utilitarian way.