By Dianna M. Náñe | The Arizona Republic
Working in a high-rise at Tempe Town Lake gave architect Mike Davis a bird’s-eye view of the waterfront and an insider’s perspective on developing it.
Davis says it’s his eye for the imaginative and mind for math that scored his Tempe-based architectural design firm the contract to craft Marina Heights, a massive office development on the lake’s southern shore that will house a State Farm regional headquarters.
“I’m a designer that has a pen in one hand and a calculator in the other,” Davis said. “Beauty is one thing, (but) you’ve got to get it built.”
That practical mindset doesn’t stop Davis from recognizing the aesthetics of Marina Heights’ sky-and-water-theme design.
“It’s a work of art,” he said of the project.
