DeBartolo Architects' community center wins AIA Arizona award
DeBartolo Architects, led by Jack DeBartolo III, completed a community center in Chandler, Arizona, in 2024, despite funding delays. The project was commissioned by Paul and Melinda Gunther through their Live Love foundation, who purchased a 5,000-square-foot abandoned property. The building features a patchwork facade of repurposed weathered steel, a sliding northern window to capture indirect light, and a layout that includes a meeting room, garage, and commercial kitchen for vocational training. The design won AIA Arizona's 2025 Distinguished Architecture Award | Honor. The center serves vulnerable youth with after-school programs.
Key facts
- DeBartolo Architects designed a community center in Chandler, Arizona.
- The project was commissioned by Paul and Melinda Gunther via their Live Love foundation.
- The building opened in 2024 after two years of fundraising and construction delays.
- The facade uses three types of leftover weathered flat sheet metal arranged in a patchwork pattern.
- A sliding northern window connects the central meeting room to the outdoors, doubling indoor capacity to 200 people.
- The building won AIA Arizona's 2025 Distinguished Architecture Award | Honor.
- The center includes a garage and commercial kitchen for teaching vocational skills.
- The design maximizes northern light to reduce direct sun exposure.
Entities
Artists
- Jack DeBartolo III
- Mike Roth
- Paul Gunther
- Melinda Gunther
Institutions
- DeBartolo Architects
- Live Love
- AIA Arizona
- Kristian Kelley Landscape Architecture
- Rudow & Berry
- Woodward Engineering
- Landcor Consulting
- Western States Metal Roofing
- Arcadia
- Steelcraft
- Cookson Door
- GRACE ULTRA
- Owens Corning
- Kohler
- Sloan
- Delta
- Elkay
- Lithonia Lighting
- Juno
- Acuity Brands
- HK Lighting Group
- Atosa
Locations
- Chandler
- Arizona
- United States