CAC breaks ground on Maricopa campus

Land that was once used for agriculture will soon be the site of one of nation’s most state-of-the-art college campuses.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Friday for the Maricopa Campus of Central Arizona College at the site of White and Parker Road across from the future city hall complex.

About 150 people attended the ceremony held under a tent in the southwest corner of the parking lot of Legacy Traditional School.

Lead architect Mark David Kranz said the project is a one-of-a-kind prototype for a desert campus.

“Rarely do we as designers get to create a campus from scratch,” said Kranz, who works for the SmithGroup in Phoenix.

Kranz said the campus will be designed to reduce energy consumption.

Natural light will enable the institution to turn off lighting in buildings during the sunny midday hours, while rammed-earth technology (mixing dirt with other materials like sand, gravel and clay) used on the exterior walls will slow down the transfer of heat and cold from outside sources to provide more consistent temperatures inside the buildings.

Along with environmental design components, the campus construction will include community rooms, a library and outdoor shaded areas to make it an inviting place for the community, Kranz said.

The 25-year master plan for the campus will enable it to accommodate more than 20,000 students with nearly 720,000 square feet.

Mayor Anthony Smith said the campus will be a landmark for the city in three areas — education, economic development and quality of life.

“For generations this land behind me was farmed, producing some of the world’s best crops,” he said. “We have a new type of harvest, education — the harvest of highly qualified people.”

Interim CAC President Doris Hemich said the first three buildings, accommodating 2,500 students, are scheduled to open in January 2013.

***ADVERTISEMENT***“This is an exciting day for Central Arizona College and Maricopa,” she said. “The college and the city have a lot in common. We will have unparalleled growth in the new century.”

Gladys Christensen, president of the CAC governing board, said, “We are not just turning dirt, we are planting seeds for growth.”

A $99 million bond for construction of the campus was approved by voters in 2008.

Although the location is generally referred to as the Maricopa Campus, an official name has not yet been adopted. CAC’s three other campus locations are named after geographic formations relative to those regions — Aravaipa, Signal Peak and Superstition Mountain.