An Inside-Out Master Plan reverses the usual layout of parking on the perimeter with buildings and a "green" in the center. This plan moves parking to the center to minimize walking in the heat and eliminates the usual water-consuming central “green”. It also provides more pathways for growth and allows the buildings to take advantage of wonderful views of the Colorado River Valley below.

Palo Verde’s design is a ‘road map’ for hot climate design, including Desert-Friendly Materials and a compact layout that uses a comparatively small 19 of the 200 acres. Inspired by Southwest Native American Motifs, it uses concrete and concrete block for its primary structure. This is not only for thermal performance but also local availability. The design revives the 1930s Pueblo Deco style seen in Phoenix, Albuquerque, and El Paso and the Warbonnet used by the Santa Fe Railroad. Other than trellises, NO wood is used.

An “Indoor Mall” Campus – First of its kind in the state - creates a highly flexible setting well suited for independent learning, study, socializing, queuing, even dining. Using standardized aluminum frame window walls and doors, the extra space in the mall is paid for by its lower cost compared with conventional fire rated corridors. Reducing the campus to five buildings is  predicated on the theory that fewer, larger buildings have a lower surface-to-volume ratio - therefore lower energy consumption.

Traditional scademic programs are housed in the Classroom/Laboratory Building. Most of the services including library, tutoring, student services, and administration are  housed in the College Services Building, both buildings using the mall-setting. 

A shaded Bridge, part of a "great circle" trellis-walkway links most of the buildings and creates a college gateway. Its steel construction with wood shade trellis acts as a "foil" to the heavy concrete and concrete block buildings.

A 400 seat Theater accompanied by a 100 seat Recital Hall plus music studios and arts and crafts labs provide the community with much-needed cultural amenities and a full curriculum. The full-size gymnasium with fitness and dance facilities complement the theater with an even larger assembly space.

The local high school shares the Technology Building that provides career technical education in automotive, diesel, welding, and construction technology.

A prefabricated steel maintenance building was provided directly by the college and is not part of this design submittal.  It is the only poor energy performance building on campus. 

The sustainability objectives in the design were developed years in advance of today's understanding of Global Warming. The college also already exceeds the 2050 AIA National goal of Net-Zero Carbon Emissions.

Thermal Mass – uses the concrete and concrete block to take advantage of the high diurnal and temperature swings with two strategies that create more stable interior temperatures and an estimated 25% energy savings over conventional insulation methods: 

1) External insulation of the mass.
2) External shading of the mass.

Daylighting is employed throughout the campus, including the two story atria engineered to provide approximately 30 fc at the lower floor mall. Air-Lock entrances are provided to minimize sand infiltration and loss of conditioned air.

Buildings are oriented to minimize west exposures, especially glazed, that result in excessive heat gain.  Entrances and outdoor gathering spaces are oriented away from the prevailing winds and out of the sun.  Trellises for shade are used liberally throughout campus.

Landscaping and water Conversation strategies utilize xeriscape that includes the native Palo Verde tree and other desert-adapted varieties. Run off from roofs and paving is directed to a large water retention basin in the dry wash and dry wells where the run-off can be returned to the water table. The college has its own well for irrigation. 

A Grid-Free 9 acre Photovoltaic Array takes advantage of the near year-round sunshine  The system over a typical year produces 7,682,663 KBTU/yr, over 2.25 times the combined KBTU purchased from Edison (943,545) + SoCal Gas Co (2,431,800) – hence achieving Net-Zero Carbon Emissions.