Thunderbird: An Idea, Not a Place

In October, we broke ground on our new global headquarters in downtown Phoenix. The stateof-the-art five-story building will open in 2021.

Connection. It’s a guiding principle as we reclaim, rebuild and reinvent Thunderbird.

Connection between the mission of the past – building a more peaceful world through training in global commerce and diplomacy – and the mission of the future – educating global leaders and managers who will maximize the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to advance sustainable and inclusive prosperity worldwide. Connection between Thunderbird’s new global headquarters in Phoenix and a worldwide network of regional centers of excellence being established. Between developed and emerging markets. Sectors and disciplines. Cultures and languages.

Connection between our Thunderbird global family and the world.

It’s the guiding principle applied in designing our new global headquarters in downtown Phoenix.

“The global Thunderbird community had a profound connection to the Glendale campus,” explained Director General and Dean Sanjeev Khagram. “We can’t replicate that place, but we can continue the connection.”

Talking about the new headquarters building, Dr. Khagram recalled a conversation he had last fall with Dr. Richard Hsu,

With a global situation room and VR/AR technology-enhanced language lab, the innovation lab will facilitate experiential learning opportunities unlike any other.

The global forum enables people across borders, cultures, time zones and languages to gather, learn and collaborate – in person in Phoenix and virtually from each of the regional Centers of Excellence.

who trained at Thunderbird as a pilot during World War II and was a longtime advocate for the School before passing away in early 2019. “I told Dr. Hsu that we were moving to downtown Phoenix. He paused for a while then said, ‘Thunderbird is an idea, not a place. What matters to me is that the idea continues, and I believe that’s what’s happening here.’”

“For 75 years, the Glendale campus was the right physical manifestation of the idea of Thunderbird,” explained Thunderbird Chief Engagement Officer Patrick McDermott. “For the next 75

years – a new era in which Thunderbird needs to deliver on a new set of needs – the downtown Phoenix global headquarters will be the heart of a global network of places that is the new manifestation of the Thunderbird idea.”

A NEW HEADQUARTERS FOR A NEW ERA

From its architecture to its interior design to its technology, Thunderbird’s global headquarters has been purposefully

designed to facilitate connection. When you first go inside the building, you’ll enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution and be welcomed by a robot AI and human assistant at the circular global forum, greeted by a virtual reality assistant and live receptionist. Go a little further into the circular global forum, look up, and you’ll see the 360-degree LED screen that can display up to 24 live streams simultaneously – ideal for real-time collaboration between the global headquarters and regional Centers of Excellence.

In the center, the digital globe hanging from the ceiling is our reimagined version of the iconic globe from The Continents fountain at our Glendale campus. Plugged into T-bird Connect, the globe will showcase dynamic data visualizations and connectivity to T-birds around the world.

Among the future-forward aspects of the global forum, the feeling of connection is palpable. “In any of its many configurations, the rotunda gives an interactive feel,” explained Brian Farling, Lead Designer at architecture firm Jones Studio. “It really evokes the sense of one world coming together.”

And that’s just the beginning, of course. From the global forum, you can access our new innovation lab, virtual reality and augmented reality (VR/AR) language center, two outdoor plazas, a global community suite, global marketplace, 21st century classrooms, and meeting spaces. As you move up and around through the second, third, fourth and fifth floors, you’ll go back through Thunderbird’s global history, you’ll find more

The global forum balcony is the perfect place to experience Thunderbird’s new globe, reminiscent of the iconic globe at the Glendale campus, with the modern addition of live social media updates from T-birds around the world.

student-centric, technology-enabled classrooms, an alumni center, a student activity center, a recruiter’s lounge, heritage lounges, an executive education center terrace, conference rooms, private dining room – and The Pub, reimagined.

REIMAGINING THE THUNDERBIRD PLACE – TOGETHER

In the spirit of connection, we chose two architects to collaborate on the building design. Jones Studio is a local firm with a deep history in downtown Phoenix, and with ASU. Moore Ruble Yudell is a Santa Monica-based architectural firm with a rich history of designing complex buildings for higher education. Jones Studio is working from the outside-in and Moore Ruble Yudell is working from the inside-out.

This kind of collaboration is not typical, explained Buzz Yudell, Design Partner at Moore Ruble Yudell. “The spirited alignment and collaboration we’ve experienced with Jones Studio and the Thunderbird/ASU team is not something that happens with every project. We always plan for and work toward this kind of alignment, but it’s been a very organic development here.”

As Yudell alludes, it isn’t just the two architecture firms working together. The design process began with 28 daylong sessions with stakeholders across the Thunderbird community. McDermott explained, “This is a team of incredibly talented

State-of-the-art classrooms support teaching that is dynamic, collaborative, active – and technology-enabled.

Heritage lounges will commemorate the legacy of Thunderbird’s first 75 years while celebrating the opportunities of the next 75.

architects, engineers and visionaries all celebrating the idea of Thunderbird and reimagining the future of the School and this building as the global headquarters. Throughout, Dr. Khagram imprinted his vision of Thunderbird 4.0 @ASU in every detail.”

INNOVATION, WITH HEART

From the LED globe streaming T-birds’ social media posts to the VR/AR-enabled language lab to the active learning classrooms and the overall design for collaboration, our new global headquarters fits right in on the urban campus of ASU, the university ranked #1 in the country for innovation for five years running.

But it’s not innovation for the sake of innovation. “The technology in this building is unprecedented,” said Jones Studio architect Brian Farling. That’s no small compliment from a man who has helped design many of ASU’s most recent downtown buildings. “The technology allows people around the world to connect in real-time to the physical and virtual anchor that is Thunderbird’s global headquarters.”

It’s innovation for the sake of connection, collaboration and communication. With heart. “We are utilizing the most advanced technologies for teaching, collaborating and colloquia, and at the same time we’re celebrating the material and artistic culture of the world,” Farling added. “It’s a beautiful balance.”

THE CLASSROOM OF THE FUTURE

Because empowering students to manage and lead in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) requires a different approach to teaching, it also requires a different approach to classroom design. After all, classrooms are not just places to learn. Done right, they are places that facilitate active learning and enable personal transformation.

Classrooms for the 4IR need to be flexible. So ours will be easily configurable. They need to facilitate collaboration across time zones, geographies, cultures and languages. So in ours, every student will have connected technology to collaborate with faculty and other students in the class and around the world. Classrooms for the 4IR need to enable students to own their learning, so ours will be non-hierarchical, allowing students the opportunity to engage with their professors as learning partners.

“We made a conscious decision not to design the classrooms traditionally,” explained architect Buzz Yudell. “Teaching and learning at Thunderbird are dynamic, collaborative and active, so we wanted the classrooms to support that.” Connection. Between the Thunderbird of the past and the Thunderbird of the future.

It’s a guiding principle as we design our new global headquarters.

Perhaps more than any other single location, The Pub is emblematic of Thunderbird as an idea. We’ve reimagined the social gathering spot to provide the connections, culture, and camaraderie that we all hold so dear – now with unique views of the Phoenix skyline.

As we reclaim, rebuild and reinvent Thunderbird 4.0 @ ASU, one of our most important goals is to retain the history, traditions, people, and artifacts that represent 73-plus years of training global leaders and managers.

NOT REPLICATED – REIMAGINED

Retaining what we all have loved in Thunderbird is not about replicating the Glendale campus in downtown Phoenix. It’s about reimagining a new global headquarters in a new location, designed for a new time, that retains the spirit of Glendale. It’s about ensuring that even as the place changes, the idea remains the same.

Speaking specifically about The Pub – perhaps the most iconic of the Glendale icons – Eddie Jones, founder of architecture firm Jones Studio, explained, “You can put in a restaurant and call it a pub, but there needed to be that nostalgia. You can’t just replicate the building. That would be fake and demeaning. You have to analyze the qualities of the original place and infuse the new location with those qualities.” The challenge was to distill the essence of Thunderbird and use it to imagine a whole new physical manifestation for the School’s next 75 years.

Step into the new Pub and you’re transported back to Thunderbird’s first decades. You’ll recognize many of the art and artifacts like the Thunderbird formed out of license plates. You might not yet recognize the modern skyline of the fastest growing city in the U.S. but you’ll feel what hasn’t changed: that this is the place where students, faculty, and alumni gather to unwind and refuel. The place where lessons are unpacked. Sec ond languages are practiced. Global corporations are founded. Marriages are proposed. Connections are made and reinforced.

INTO THE FUTURE, CONNECTED TO THE PAST

As you ascend the floors of the building, you’ll find heritage lounges that celebrate Thunderbird’s connections – past, present and future – to people, places, and cultures around the world. Designed to feel like a friend’s living room, these comfortable spaces encourage connection between students, faculty, alumni and visitors alike.

Each lounge has a different continental or period focus. We took all the art and antiquities we could from the original buildings, and they will be displayed in the heritage lounges. Many of the pieces have been donated to us by alumni who collected them during their global travels. So their display is not only a celebration of Thunderbird’s history but a celebration of the global wanderlust and cultural curiosity that is so quintessentially Thunderbird.

Heritage lounges will commemorate the legacy of Thunderbird’s first 75 years while celebrating the opportunities of the next 75.

Outside-in and inside-out, Thunderbird’s global headquarters will be the physical manifestation of our core values, vision, and mission. For students and faculty, alumni and community members, it will be more than a place for education. It will be a home-away-from-home. A place to celebrate diversity, history, and innovation. A place for connection.