HONOR AWARD
Represents outstanding accomplishment in the profession of landscape architecture.
Tech Ridge Development Zone Plan
“This project has so much potential, and it is very likely that it could be developed and add significant value to this area and the client. The staggering of the building heights and distances from the ridge edge is impressive and provides a less invasive development. The project design team has created a unique environment for a sustainable living community that should be well received.”
PROJECT STATEMENT
The historic St. George Airport was decommissioned when 9/11 security protocols could not be addressed because width of the 200’+ tall bluff. St. George City owned the airport site and requested bids from development groups to redevelop the site. In response, Tech Ridge LLC was formed and proposed the idea for a high-tech campus on the site.
The vision of Tech Ridge is to build on this foundation by elevating the way people experience life in Southern Utah. At Tech Ridge, people will live and work together, share ideas, and seek adventure in a place designed to enhance human living, in a setting unlike any other.
Tech Ridge thoughtfully incorporates park lands, trails, and outdoor amenities that celebrate and preserve the beautiful desert environment.
Employees, residents, locals, and tourists will be free to experience Tech Ridge’s unique amenities and explore its state-of-the-art offices, restaurants, retail shops, parks, and unique adventure opportunities. The variety of amenities provided will become a major regional draw that creates memories and experiences unavailable anywhere else.
PROJECT NARRATIVE
Planning – The proposal to St. George City was to develop a truly mixed-use high-tech environment with retail, office, residential, and hospitality uses mixed both vertically and horizontally with a robust open space and trails network. The plan also implements a custom Form Based Code approach emphasizing building forms that create unique public spaces while providing flexibility in the actual uses of the building. St. George City has never approved a project as progressively mixed-use and dynamic as Tech Ridge, yet the public/private collaboration progressed with a surprising amount of unity and professionalism. The zone plan document was a fundamental tool for fostering clear communication between the two entities during the approval process.
Environmental Sensitivity and Sustainability – This site was first developed as an airport in the early 1930’s and was cleared for two runways. The city expanded the airport in 1981 and grew to fill the entire bluff by 1991. Although the top of the bluff was completely developed, the land between the top of the bluff and valley floor remained relatively undisturbed. Tech Ridge’s vision is to extend the native desert landscape from the edges of the bluff to the buildings with a perimeter ridge trail that meanders through the desert landscape encircling Tech Ridge. The landscaping is primarily composed of desert plants with some water wise ornamental shrubs, groundcovers, and street trees. To further enhance the sustainable waterwise landscaping, only synthetic turf will be allowed in all active recreation areas. All buildings are equipped with low water use fixtures conserving as much water as possible. The Washington Water Conservancy District considers Tech Ridge a model community as they are grappling with water restrictions to deal with the current historic drought.
Successful Implementation – The first Tech Ridge mixed use office building (Vasion) was built in 2020. The next nine buildings have been designed with the Sky View building permit issued by the City in May 2022, and eight other tech office buildings with solar panel covered parking will be permitted coming in summer 2022 that will kick off the first phases of development. A portion of the Ridge Trail and associated landscape will be installed in 2022 along with the west stairs that will extend from Tech Ridge to the residential development on the west connecting the project to the community. St. George City has awarded a civil engineering firm with the design of the main road connecting the project to I-15, fittingly called Flash Drive, to be constructed once the design is complete.
Value to the Client, the Public and Other Designers – Tech Ridge will raise the quality of life in the downtown area bringing thousands of high paying jobs to the area which is projected to generate billions of dollars of economic development for the city. The Zone Plan sets the standard of sustainable development and high-quality mixed-use design for various design firms that will be hired by Tech Ridge to develop each phase of the project as it progresses.
Tech Companies typically offer quality recreational amenities to lure and keep highly qualified staff to assist their companies to stay on the cutting edge of technology innovations. To fulfill these needs Tech Ridge is planning on developing the first luge cart track in America along with a high adventure mountain bike park that can be viewed from the cantilevered Stadium Plaza above, (see slides for visual). A chair lift will be installed to deliver the luge carts and mountain bikes back to the top of the bluff and provide access to the adjacent West Black Ridge bluff (some 300’ above Tech Ridge) for spectacular views of St. George and surrounding communities.