Jones Studio

Fall semester is about to begin at Mesa Community College, and its Performing Arts Center opens its doors to another year of student musicians, actors, and technicians.

The building started as a movie house that had fallen into disrepair. Its transformation into a 19,500 sq ft new and 24,550 sq ft remodeled facility gave the Fiesta District rehearsal rooms, classrooms, and faculty offices built around a sustainable design ethic and a connection to the Sonoran Desert.

Even the exterior carries the rhythm of what happens inside — the masonry wall’s diagonal pattern traces the clarinet glissando that opens George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and stanchions salvaged from the original theater seats now mark the courtyard, casting shadows that shift with the sun.

Located in Mesa, Arizona - Have you seen the building driving on the 60?

Continuing our back to school highlights - this time, we’re headed to downtown Phoenix.

ASU’s Beus Center for Law & Society, home to the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law’s was built to inspire connection and learning — six stories in the heart of downtown Phoenix, designed in collaboration with Ennead Architects.

One of the many aspects that makes this building so unique is how the space flows together. The law library spills across floors with no thresholds turning study time into something communal rather than closed off — exactly the kind of “radical accessibility” this building was built around.

From the shaded Yavapai National Courtyard to the sky bridge linking the east and west wings, every space here was designed to pull the practice of law out into public life.

📍 Downtown Phoenix, AZ
📷 Bill Timmerman

Please join us in officially congratulating our newest LICENSED ARCHITECT, Xander Jacobs, AIA! We’re so proud of you and grateful to have you as part of the Jones Studio family 👏👏👏

Back to school is right around the corner, and we’ve been revisiting one of our favorite campus transformations: the University of Jamestown’s Voorhees Chapel and Center for Faith and Life.

Built in 1918 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the chapel’s original stained glass and timber trusses now connect to a new 8,246-square-foot addition built for how students use campus today — a café, terraced gathering spaces, study rooms, and daylight everywhere you look.

Photography by Matt Winquist - swipe through for a look inside and visit our website for more on this campus project and many others.

Part of the magic woven into Jones Studio’s DNA is a drive to create lasting change for the betterment of our communities. That’s why we’re proud to see Shawn Swisher, AIA, LEED AP take that spirit beyond our studio and onto the civic stage. On Tuesday, August 4, AIA Arizona hosts a panel of local architects serving in civic roles across the Valley, talking planning, policy, and advocacy. All are welcome - register on the aia-arizona.org website.

Our quarterly e-newsletter is out, with news from across the studio including Senior Associate Shawn Swisher, AIA, LEED AP, receiving the 2026 National AIA Young Architect Award, project milestones, and more.

If it didn’t land in your inbox, you can sign up at the bottom of our website with just your name and email (link in bio)

Fresh off the press! Jones Studio is featured in Arizona Residential Architects (ARA31), spotlighting a handful of Eddie’s residential work. From a copper-roofed retreat tucked into the pines to a desert home settled right into the saguaros, each project finds its own quiet conversation with the landscape.

There’s also a fun matching game in this issue: can you pair each interior with its exterior? Head to the ‘Dwelling’ section of our website to take your best guess & see how well you know Jones Studio architecture.

Please help us welcome our new summer intern, Jay Natarajan! Jay brings a perspective shaped by world travels and a clear conviction about where the profession is headed.

Earlier this year, Jay was part of a student research team that received the Design Excellence Award for a modular fourplex ADU concept in Tucson — a design centered on solar energy collection and hydronic radiant heating and cooling systems to reduce long-term energy costs. The project was built around a question Tucson is actively asking itself: now that zoning allows multi-family housing on single-family lots, how do architects think differently about density, affordability, and sustainability?

We’re so glad you’re here!

Leftover artwork? Yes, please!

An unused piece of Maria Salenger’s sculptural metalwork found a second life here at the Studio. Rob Huff transformed the remaining panels into hand-crafted enclosures for our EV charging stations in the garden. Functional, beautiful, and a little unexpected. Exactly how we like it!