The
Sonoran
Studio
We’re Creating Arizona’s First Living Building
It’s time we change how places are made.
We’re witnessing a tremendous shift in how—and where—people want to live and work. And we’re not building thoughtfully enough to meet these demands responsibly. What currently passes as sustainable design merely does “less harm,” rather than doing good.
At Architectural Resource Team (A|R|T), we know there’s a better way. It’s called regenerative design—a holistic approach to creating buildings and places that give back more than they take to their inhabitants, communities, and the planet.
To prove it, we’re designing and building Arizona’s first certified Living Building. Called the Sonoran Studio, the structure will serve as our architecture firm’s new home—and an example for others to emulate. Our hope is that the Sonoran Studio becomes a powerful symbol that communicates the importance of regenerative design in the Sonoran Desert.
Sonoran Studio Renderings
What Is a Living Building?
Living Buildings go beyond “green” or “sustainable” design. Instead, Living Building Challenge standards result in efficient, beautiful buildings that produce more energy than they use—and have net positive impacts on their sites and surroundings.
The Living Futures Institute organizes these standards into seven performance areas, which they liken to the petals of a flower:
- Place: Restoring a healthy interrelationship with nature.
- Water: Creating developments that operate within the water balance of a given place and climate.
- Energy: Relying only on current solar income.
- Health & Happiness: Creating environments that optimize physical and psychological health and well being.
- Materials: Endorsing products that are safe for all species through time.
- Equity: Supporting a just and equitable world.
- Beauty: Celebrating design that uplifts the human spirit.
“The Living Building Challenge is the most rigorous benchmark of sustainability in the built environment. It is the gold standard against which all others are measured.”
—Living Futures Institute
Design With Purpose
Architectural Resource Team (A|R|T) is a Phoenix-based architecture firm committed to community, creativity, and collaboration. Founded in 1987, A|R|T is pursuing and advocating for the Living Building Challenge with its new office, Sonoran Studio. Over the past decade, the firm has nurtured deep roots as an organization that builds community through project types for the housing, healthcare, municipal and education sectors.
Project Partners
Thanks to the many project partners helping us bring the Sonoran Studio to life.
