The Children’s Museum of Phoenix recently celebrated the grand opening of the latest addition to its outdoor Move It! exhibit – a permanent sandbox, donated by DPR Construction • Sundt Construction, Inc., Joint Venture and 15 subcontractors. DPR and Sundt are both members of the Arizona Builders' Alliance.

Located near the museum’s entrance and designed to look like a rattlesnake, the play space features a 230-sq-ft sand box, concrete benches and an ADA-compliant sand platform for wheelchair-bound children. The new exhibit was inspired by the museum’s annual SandFest, which features 30 tons of sand temporarily placed on the grounds for kids to enjoy. 

The joint venture team, currently constructing the nearby University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix Campus Biosciences Partnership Building on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus, designed and built the sandbox as well as donated all of the materials to construct it.

"Sundt generously participated in our SandFest event last year, and in doing so we saw how much all the museum visitors loved playing in sand," said Kate Wells, CEO of the Children’s Museum of Phoenix. "When the DPR • Sundt Joint Venture came to us this year offering to build a permanent sand exhibit at the museum – and then showed us a conceptual design – we knew right away they were the kind of partners we love to work with!  Architect Ayers Saint Gross very generously designed the exhibit, and then DPR • Sundt pulled in many great industry partners who all worked together to build one of our favorite new museum play spaces. We are forever grateful."

Industry partners involved in the project include:  University Mechanical and Engineering Contractors, Cannon and Wendt Electric Co., Sunstate Equipment Co., Able Steel Fabricators, Inc., Sonoran Waste Disposal, , Pennington Painting Co., Charles Court Construction, Inc., Powers Steel & Wire, Hanson Aggregates Arizona, Inc., American Fence Company, Great Western Erectors, Valley Crest Landscape Companies , Western Concrete Pumping, Inc. and T.F. Valdez Construction Supply Company, Inc. 

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