City of Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach, Virginia

After analyzing the city’s space needs in the existing city hall, our team developed design plans for building a new city hall. The original city hall, which was built in 1969, had outgrown its effectiveness in serving the city’s community, and the outdated layout prevented city staff from interacting safely and efficiently serving the needs of the community.

Before establishing a direction for the design, our team engaged city hall staff and the community with public meetings and surveys. These interactions allowed our team to better understand how staff needed the spaces to function, how much space they need to effectively work, and how citizens interacted with the various departments. Using this data, we identified three primary design goals: security, flexibility, and functionality.

The new city hall’s design welcomes citizens, but limits access to non-public spaces. Conference and meeting rooms provide more opportunities for large meetings and staff collaboration. The new building welcomes visitors with a three-story lobby and offers a 300-seat city council chamber and an adjoining 60-seat conference room.