A sustainable facility that is as aesthetically beautiful as it is functional.
A design focused on the user experience and a welcoming environment that promotes pedestrian oriented, low-impact design with a strong connection to nature.
Rooted in history, context and environment to connect, promote, and enhance the existing experience of the Civic Center campus while establishing an impressive, bold and memorable image that is distinctly Avondale and welcomes residents and visitors to the campus.
Rain harvesting is used through the engineering of the site and landscape.
The Avondale Civic Center was designed to provide a sustainable facility that is as aesthetically beautiful as it is functional. The Estrella Mountains are a pivotal symbol of Avondale and the building creates view sheds to look directly out to the Estrella Mountains to connect with the regional landscape while still providing passive shade to interior spaces. The design process studied optimal orientation of the building, energy savings, charging stations, water harvesting, daylighting, and native landscaping.
The facility connects with the site landscape, with an emphasis on physical and visual connectivity between indoor and outdoor spaces. Great care was taken to blur the lines between interior and exterior. The most prominent are the community meeting rooms that can open to the entry plaza for larger events and interaction with the landscape. Another representation is the rusted metal panel and planter below, which wrap from exterior to interior and house live cacti on the interior of the building that continue the desert planting inside the building. The building and the site work together to collect water. Native planting and desert plants connect with the regional identity, but water collects where people gather, and rain gardens reflecting the agricultural character of Avondale allow for a softer edge to the entry plaza. All the water that feeds the gardens or collects from the parking areas eventually enters infiltration tanks to replenish the groundwater.
