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FEBRUA RY 2018 | 57 West Vancouver Police Services & Municipal Hall Project PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY DISTRICT OF WEST VANCOUVER West Vancouver Police Services & Municipal Hall Project by ZUZANNA WODZYNSKA T he residents of the District of West Vancouver, B.C. have been enjoy- ing a new Police Services and Municipal Hall building since the offi- cial ribbon-cutting on October 30, 2017. The first of a multi-phase project, the new building replaces the long time police headquarters originally built in 1954. At various times it has shared space with a fire hall, a Provincial Court, and the Chamber of Commerce. "Despite numerous renovations, the building was not fully accessi- ble to those with mobility challenges and the building had no provision for fully secure storage of police vehicles," explains constable Jeff Palmer, com- munications officer at West Vancouver Police. "That was aside from numer- ous age-related deficiencies, including a chronically leaky roof, a boiler intent on repeated breakdowns in winter, inadequate ventilation, pest intrusion, and unsafe building materials includ- ing asbestos throughout." Moreover, the existing facility was not constructed to post-disaster standards, which could prevent first responders from deploying equipment and vehicles, or delivering life-saving services to the community. "The new building adds over 57,000 square feet of gross area to the exist- ing municipal hall and includes a new police station, new municipal offices, a customer service centre, fitness room, shared meeting spaces that are also available for community use, as well as a new atrium that is able to accommodate public gatherings," describes Trevor Thimm, associate at Dialog. "The overall height of the new building is confined to two storeys of programmed space above two levels of underground parking." The design team worked with the topography of the site, ensuring that the exist- ing municipal hall tower retains its prominence and remains visible from neighbouring streets. "We tried to establish a strong architectural dialogue between the new structure and the existing and adjacent Municipal Hall, setting a new vocabulary that is relevant to the cur- rent time and place, but taking cues from the Hall's architectural expres- sion," says Thimm. "This includes a strong horizontal expression with pro- nounced cornice lines and soffits, an aluminum glazing system with dark spandrel panels, and cantilevered vol- umes raised on columns." A simple material palette, well-defined forms and organizational clarity, as well as exposed heavy timber roof structures in public interior spaces were also prominent in the architecture of that era, and included in the current design. "Massing for the new building is organized along an extension of the north-south circulation spine that orig- inates in the existing Hall," describes Thimm. "This spine provides access to the customer service hub from a new visitor parking lot to the north and divides the new facility into police functions to the east and municipal functions to the west." The location of the new building, as with many projects, presented its challenges. "The building is situated adjacent to many residential housing units including apartment build- ings. We tried to ensure we keep the impact to the neighbourhood to a bare minimum. This resulted in having to rearrange impact activities to non- critical hours. The District of West Vancouver staff and management was a great assistance in helping to navigate through the neighbourhood conditions," says Gary Cheema, proj- ect manager at Smith Bros. & Wilson (B.C.) Ltd. The new building and existing Hall are linked by a two-storey multi-pur- pose atrium constructed of glulam beams and exposed glulam decking. Entry plazas at either end of the atrium serve as the main points of entry to the facility and provide additional places for public gathering. "The primary landscape feature is an off-site streetscape treatment for three road frontages, designing it LOCATION 755 16th Street, West Vancouver, B.C. OWNER District of West Vancouver PROJECT MANAGER WSP ARCHITECT DIALOG GENERAL CONTRACTOR Smith Bros. & Wilson (B.C.) Ltd. STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT RJC Engineers MECHANICAL CONSULTANT AME Consulting Group ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT AES Engineering Ltd. LANDSCAPE CONSULTANT van der Zalm + associates inc. TOTAL SIZE 57,180 square feet TOTAL COST $36 million

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