San Angelo Community Center 

Create a Net-Zero Energy, LEED Platinum community building to provide a potent civic building for the Park while leveraging the adjacent existing non-descript 1970’s gabled community center. 

This project is conceived as a simple, small stucco-clad box set under a large, encompassing perforated steel super-canopy. 

The canopy harnesses, controls, and celebrates the sun’s light and energy, and provides a significant civic presence for the Park in the city. It leverages its architectural context by taking a mediocre existing building and formally riffing on it gable typology, thus making it an excellent “support” building. It leverages its landscape context by respecting the parking lot as entry, and significant outdoor spaces underneath it. 

The canopy triples the interiors’ usable area while providing protection from the sun. It also provides the framework for a Photo-Voltaic Array that fully covers energy needs for the entire facility creating the FIRST ENERGY NET-ZERO building for this Public Agency. It covers the building and its front and back patios providing shade and minimizing the impact of solar gain. Large skylights and glazed openings provide ample screened daylight to minimize artificial lighting and energy consumption. 

The project implements significant sustainable building strategies such as rain water retention/detention, renewable energy and highly efficient mechanical and ventilation systems, depending mostly on fresh air and cross-ventilation.