This is not your typical tourist attraction or destination, but when I saw this canopy, I had to take a closer look. I was on my way to downtown Scottsdale when I passed the business development in the Arizona State University (ASU) Scottsdale Center for New Technology and Innovation. Not yet finished, this fabric structure is called Skysong, and when the project is complete it will straddle the intersection of two connecting roads and four separate buildings. I can only imagine how beautiful this would look at night as it is equipped with white and colored LED lights. In the heat of an Arizona summer, Skysong provides a unique source of shade for the workers and students of the complex. Standing under Skysong, one can see just how enormous this structure really is, and yet it doesn’t feel closed-in. The fabric, a Teflon-coated fiberglass fabric, reflects heat and light and has a life of about 30 years. Skysong cost approximately $4-5 million. It may not be fun for the kids to visit, but I would certainly recommend this as a point of interest if anyone is passing through Scottsdale.
June 16, 2010