UA science concourse could get major facelift

Dan Kampner Arizona Daily Wildcat Eric Scharf, consulting architect for Wheat Scharf Associates, Inc., describes points of interest on a plan for the project to improve the area north of the Life Sciences South building yesterday in the Life Sciences South Building. The project includes plans for a new parking garage, irrigation channels, more trees and a wider bike path.

Landscape architects held a forum outside the Life Sciences South building to present a redesign proposal for the concourse, bounded by East Fourth Street, East Sixth Street, North Park Avenue and North Santa Rita Road.

The proposal includes a new 1,300-car parking garage, irrigation channels and trees to create a formal campus entrance on East Sixth Street.

Designers predict that bicycle traffic and bike parking will become worse with the addition of two 20-foot-wide sidewalks through the concourse. Construction could begin in the next six months.

"When you create wide thoroughfares, you encourage bicycle traffic," said Larry Barton, associate director of Parking and Transportation Services.

The designers also discussed adding a pedestrian walkway across Park Avenue, outdoor seating carved out of boulders, vending machines and an amphitheater or outdoor classroom.

The corridor has never been developed because it was a residential street before the university acquired it, said Carl Gajdorus, senior architect for University of Arizona facilities design and construction.

The UA hopes to create a public area for students and faculty to relax and socialize.

"The campus can come together and build unity," Gajdorus said.

Planners have yet to identify a funding source, the cost of the project or when it could be completed, he said. The UA can afford the project, Gajdorus said, but has not yet decided to allocate funds.

"It's really almost dangerous to predict a cost until the details are worked out," he said.

Once designers work out the details of the plan, the UA will begin the construction in phases.

"Rather than replacing everything at once, maintenance will plant new trees as the old ones die, for example," said Eric Scharf, principal architect for Wheat Scharf Associates, Inc., of Tucson.

A new drainage system, which would prevent water on Fourth Street from flooding the Marley building, would be the first to be constructed, Gajdorus said.

"When we're done, we're not done," Scharf said. "It will continue to evolve."

Stephanie Corns can be reached via e-mail at Stephanie.Corns@wildcat.arizona.edu.