CLIENT
City of Houston

BUILDING AREA
29,200 sf

AWARDS
2013 AIA Denver Award of Merit
2013 AIA Colorado Award of Citation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
This award-winning project depicts design excellence in cost effective public building. The South Gessner Police Station is designed to communicate the Houston Police Department’s mantra, “order through law, justice with mercy”. The building’s geometry is a rational expression of it’s module, structural system, and organization of plan.

The building envelope, a functional and cost effective tilt-up concrete wall system, represents order. The wall is eroded at special areas to allude to the notion of mercy. Mercy/respite areas are recalled at entries for both the public and police. These interventions break through the order with softer material, transparency, sun and rain protection, and linear strips of landscaping. A sky lit central hall/respite zone provides access to all major activity zones and widens to create an open, naturally illuminated environment for report writing.