Location: Chilliwack, BC

Size: 30,000 sq. ft.

Client: City of Chilliwack

Architects: Gustavson Wylie Architects (GWA)

Consultants: 

MMoser Associates

Wales McLelland Construction

Geopacific Consultants

WSB

BC Comfort Mechanical Contractor

CAN TEC

pmg Landscape Architects

Hub Engineering Inc. - Engineering and Development Consultants

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This 30,000 square foot (2,756 square meters) building is the new addition to the city hall for Chilliwack, BC.

Our conceptual design approach focused on understanding the needs of the building. We, first, develop what we call functional requirements.  We then move on to understanding the site and environmental Influences and come up with our schematic or conceptual design. Some key factors that we considered were that the City hall is a highly visible part of the landscape, needs to be clearly identifiable, and appears open, inviting, approachable, human scale, orderly and efficient.

Our design responds to these determinants directly by projecting a sequence of spaces into a form that works from the inside out and determines spatial relationships necessary to have the most aesthetically pleasing, confident, professionally refined interior layout. We considered the public versus semi-public realms, interactions between supervisors and general office staff, daylighting, circulation, access to natural ventilation, access to facilities, and your general workflow.

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A city hall is often the pride of a community and identifying paradigm for a community. As everyday business takes place at City Hall, including taxes, building permits, recreation, and public works, it is essential for Municipal Hall to appear transparent. Chilliwack has signed on to the Chilliwack Climate Action Plan and it is essential that any new development, especially ones built by the city, show leadership in sustainability.

This building addresses all of these factors to create a highly functioning, attractive, and efficient design to create the most value for the City of Chilliwack.

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