Thinner, lighter, cleaner
The Walton Center’s specialized concrete “shell” provides sustainable, energy efficient research facilities
The Rob and Melani Walton Center for Planetary Health‘s mission is reflected in its building: a purposeful integration of innovative and sustainable design, architecture, engineering and construction. One of the most specialized components is the building’s visually compelling edifice. Covered with hundreds of large, overlapping, asymmetrical chevron shapes made of specialized concrete, the “shell” resembles a pattern one might see in nature, such as an exoskeleton or scales.
Barzin Mobasher, a Fulton Schools professor of civil and environmental engineering, is one of the skilled professionals who helped create the Walton Center’s impressive building. Mobasher had a role in selecting the glass-fiber-reinforced concrete panels that form the building’s shell and help to make it energy efficient. Other contributions by Mobasher became key components of the building’s structural resilience and overall environmental sustainability.
The Walton Center, also known as Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 7 (ISTB7), was designed to meet LEED Gold standards, and will house a few sustainability-related units from across ASU. Several Fulton Schools engineers who hold dual appointments with the School of Sustainability, the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation and the College of Global Futures will conduct research in this advanced multidisciplinary center.
