ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES, CONFERENCE CENTER, AND GROUP HOME

For over twenty five years La Paloma Family Services has provided services to children and adolescents in Arizona. Over that time the agency has adapted its programs to community needs by providing preventative services, special education programs, and foster and group care programs. This new development houses three important aspects of La Paloma’s work. First, the project addresses the need for early childhood programs, quality day care services, and family education and support services with a new Conference and Training Center. Secondly, the project supports temporary foster care housing for up to ten children in a new group home. Finally, the project houses La Paloma’s front office staff in a new administrative office building.

Poster Mirto McDonald crafted three distinct buildings to respond to the unique requirements of these three different areas of service. Though different in purpose the three buildings work together to form a cohesive campus. A shared central courtyard acts as an outdoor meeting space for staff and clients from all corners of the campus. Design elements are repeated throughout the campus to create a unified project identity. Dynamic building forms are balanced with a pedestrian scale and the use of tactile and natural materials. Environmental responses, such as the “butterfly” roofs used to collect rainwater, express an environmental responsiveness that helps root the architecture in its place and time.

Location : Tucson, Arizona

Year of Completion : 2006

Size : 14,000 SF

Cost: $2,400,000