Featured Illustration (above): A rendering of the front exterior of the planned new College Station city hall complex. Image: City of College Station
Posted: 12-17-19
By Edmond Ortiz
College Station (Brazos County)–City Council and the public recently saw the latest designs for the planned new College Station City Hall, where construction sub-bids should go out in the first quarter of 2020.
Kirksey Architecture has spent several months working on the designs for the estimated $39.3 million, three-story municipal facility that is to be built on city property near the existing city hall on Texas Avenue.
CORE is the construction manager at-risk for the 79,000-square-foot structure. VBX members may track the progress of this project using ID number: 2017-7B97.
The city plans to bid out site preparation and vertical construction packages shortly after the start of 2020, City Manager Bryan Woods told City Council on Dec. 10.
City staff estimated an 18-to-24 month build-out for the new complex. It will house council chambers, several city administrative offices, and include community meeting space.
Once construction is completed, the old city hall will be demolished; it’s been in use for more than 50 years.
The current city hall was developed in phases and now, according to local leaders, lacks the space and physical infrastructure to serve a city whose population is projected to reach 123,000 in the 2020 census.
Trace Saenz, senior project designer with Kirksey, said the city’s architectural advisory committee asked the designers to take into account the history of Texas architecture and the history of College Station, whose origins date back to the existence of an old train station in the latter half of the 19th century.
The current conceptual renderings show the new city hall with stone on the bottom, pitched roofs, a clock tower, and a red brick facade on top. The first floor features arches and side entries.
There is also a colonnade that extends out into a small plaza-like space, which could be used for community meetings and public events, Saenz said.
Saenz said he and his colleagues looked at architecture of existing and past train stations for inspiration to design the interior of the new College Station City Hall.
Specifically, the team at Kirksey concentrated on light-colored ceilings and walls, the lighting elements, wood frames, column lighting and a vintage transitional entry.
The architects also incorporated train station elements such as the ticket booth and wood paneling, LED globe lighting, railroad ties and railing into the city hall design.
“You can see exposed steel, you can see the connections and really express the idea of a train station-inspired space,” Saenz said.
The city hall design also shows, Saenz explained, city employees and visitors seeing reflections of local and railroad history upon entering the building, and then experiencing more contemporary architectural aspects going further into the building, including the council chambers that lie right in the facility’s center.
Saenz described the council dais as a sort of “railroad platform” with its tongue-and-groove system. Another rendering of the interior shows space to exhibit city memorabilia.
The city plans to pay for the project with monies from various sources, including current debt capacity, cash on hand, income from a dissolving tax increment financing zone, and revenues from a tax increase.
Woods said “a lot of elements in this building that came from good input, and of course this will continue to evolve.” Woods added the new city hall will encourage more engagement between the public and city employees, and will help the city to recruit and retain city staff.
Council members were impressed with the new designs.
“This is going to be a city-oriented facility, not just for city staff,” Mayor Pro Tem Linda Harvell said.
edmond@virtualbx.com
