After renting space for over twenty years, the owner-architect couple purchased an 80-year-old warehouse on one of the grittiest streets east of downtown Phoenix with the intent to transform the raw building into their architectural studio. With a varied history as a mechanic shop, body shop, and storage facility, the largely brick structure was most admired for its simple form – a 50’ x 100’ rectangle. With a clear height of 12’, the open interior plan was the perfect container for a creative workshop and design laboratory.

The work of the studio is deeply rooted in place with several adaptive reuse projects of significance in their portfolio. The building on Van Buren was another opportunity for them to redeem a building and fill it with new life. Working on a lean budget and a short schedule, the project was completed and occupied in July 2019.

As part of the revitalization of the downtown core of Phoenix, this project is exemplary in how to revive our cities through adaptive reuse of existing building stock. The studio of debartolo architects will continue to make it their focus to create extraordinary places and spaces – sometimes even from the mundane and ordinary.