Construction is underway for the first “living building” in Arizona, which will serve as an office for the building’s architecture and design firm, Architectural Resource Team.
The building, called the Sonoran Studio, will be located near Indian School Road and 10th Street, adjacent to the company’s existing office. The work to get the building started has been about four years in the making, company leaders said.
To be certified as a living building through the Living Building Challenge, a building must satisfy several components, called “petals,” Dev Pawar, principal at Architectural Resource Team, said. Those petals include relying only on current solar income for energy, relying on 100% captured precipitation or closed-loop water systems for water use and treating water on site, and only using materials that do not contain or are produced, using toxic components or chemicals.
The building will include other sustainable systems, including a 10,000-gallon rainwater catchment system and composting toilets. The building will also use hydropanels from Scottsdale-based Source Global, formerly Zero Mass Water, to catch it in the air, condense it and dispense clean, mineralized water.
“Quite a few of our vendors have stepped up their game and altered their process too,” Pawar said.
