This municipality operates its field services from several older and outdated facilities scattered around the city. These services include the Departments of Public Works and Parks and Recreation, plus other services such as Engineering, Fleet, Traffic and Transportation, Housing Services maintenance, satellite maintenance facilities, and other service uses. In order to develop interdepartmental teams and cooperation, and to realize all potential organizational efficiencies (cost savings estimated at nearly $2M/year and $3M one time), these services are being consolidated and centrally located into a single campus location.
The Municipal Services Center provides opportunities for enhancement of an underutilized area and a demonstration of sustainability through reclamation of environmentally challenged land and integrated design principles. The location of this significant public investment also serves to assist in ongoing revitalization efforts along a major arterial street and spur new private sector economic investment with the increase in land value and added daytime workforce presence in the area.
This Phase 1 project contains 113,000 GSF. Ultimately, 397,000 GSF will be required to consolidate the various city departments into one facility.
The realized Phase 1 solution is located in a former auto salvage yard in an area prone to flooding during major flood events (both 100 and 500-year). It was a City requirement to have the building floors located above the 100-year flood datum and hardened to the 500-year datum. This requires the building to be raised 4’ above the average existing grade elevation. Also, it was discovered that the current 10 acre site contained 5-8 of salvage fill—old cars, concrete chunks, bricks, tires, etc.—over the entire area. Excavation and import of good fill become cost prohibitive so a system of driven stone columns were utilized to reinforce the capacities of the site.
Organizationally, the building contains essentially two components—administrative offices and operational facilities. The final solution adopted two strategies which formed the basis of the final layout. First, the lab and storage spaces were organized into ‘saddlebags’ flanking the large central vehicle storage bay. The represented an evolution in the layout of typical municipal facilities. Secondly, the administrative ‘bar’ was pulled away from the operational components and connected with two ‘bridges’. This allowed light to penetrate into the center of the facility where otherwise there would typically be no outside access. A glass enclosed courtyard has thus been created as an amenity for the occupants of the building.
Due to economy and durability, the exterior of the facility is primarily precast concrete with curtainwall infill. The precast panels have been pulled apart to articulate otherwise long, blank facades. The northwest facing office façade has been fully glazed and screened with a system of horizontal aluminum tubes and vertical fabric fins to mitigate direct sun (and glare) from entering the building throughout much of the annual solar cycle. Nearly all spaces have access to an exterior wall and operable windows for ventilation when conditions allow.
The building is fitted with a decentralized variable refrigerant volume mechanical system. Nearly 100% of building energy is transported with fluid in lieu of air making that transport 384 times more efficient. All ventilation equipment is fitted with heat recovery. The building envelope is continuously insulated and curtainwall is triple glazed to maximize thermal resistance. The building alerts occupants when outdoor conditions are acceptable for open windows. Hot water is provided by a roof mounted solar thermal system and the large vehicle bay is lit by an array of 72 skylights. All materials were chosen for both economy and durability. Nearly all materials utilized are self-finishing requiring little to no maintenance.
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