Page 20 - Designing for Zero Carbon - Case Studies of All-Electric Buildings

CASE STUDY NO. 1
SANTA MONICA CITY HALL EAST
(Below) Site Plan Diagram of the City Center showing the location of the new addition to the east of the historic City Hall. (Courtesy of Frederick Fisher Architects.)
The motivation from the beginning was to eliminate the substantial cost of leasing space and to create a single location for all community services. But there was also the idea to create a project that would demonstrate the sustainability features of future buildings that the City would promote in the construction and operation of new buildings. The City had developed a comprehensive sustainability plan starting in 1994 and the idea was to roll the elements of the current version of this plan into the design of the new building as a test of the new policy and technologies.
In 2014, the City embarked on a traditional approach to the procurement of the building—a feasi- bility study to outline the building program, building location and placement, planning constraints and total project cost, followed by a design phase and a bond measure to fund the project. With public approval of the bond measure, construction could begin. This plan was carried out, with the grand opening of the new facility planned for Earth Day 2020.
The building was completed as planned, but due to the Covid pandemic the building was delayed in opening to the public until June 2021.
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Designing for Zero Carbon: Volume 1