The brief of this successful invited design competition required a Mediterranean Revival architectural expression.  

While embracing the indoor/outdoor spirit of the required style, the competition solution  focused more intently on the creation of public space - including a Civic Square, a perambulating, cypress-lined Heritage Garden in the footprint of the former city hall, and a block-long outdoor Public Gallery that accesses two internal atria and all departments of the City.

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The insistent rhythms of this Public Gallery, its spatial depth, and the tectonics of its construction, give the City Hall its distinctive presence in the cityscape.

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Convenience parking - in a challenge to the competition  brief's call for 'visitor surface parking' - is located in a subterranean garden, with ready, daylit access to the Civic Square, (a Square that would have been spatially impossible with the space requirements of surface parking).

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Public artists were fully integrated into the architectural design process.  The pieces included May Sun's whale-form composition within Heritage Garden's reflecting pool; Barbara McCarren's inscriptions on civic philosophy on the brick walls lining the Garden; Ed Carpenter's central glass piece at the entry; and Blue McRight's collage of paintings the City Council lobby.

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Nearly 20 years on, the landscape over parking structure - in collaboration with Rabben Herman Design - continues to interact with the architecture to provide a 24/7 civic sanctuary and socializing space for Culver City's residents.