For West Haven City Hall in West Haven, UT, the primary goal of the architect was to provide a timeless architectural design combined with aesthetically engaging features and a comfortable environment where the business of running a city could be accomplished. The architecture had to be innovative and bold to represent the forward-looking vision of the city while providing warmth and openness.
A variety of masonry patterns, textures, colors and shapes were employed. The building plan is divided into seven distinct sections. The base of the four outer quadrants are built on a 4” high by 12” deep split faced unit to give a sense of strength to the base of the building. At the top of the door and window openings, a precast lintel was used along the entire perimeter of the building to create a clear separation between the base and the upper elements. The upper wall of the four outer quadrants is comprised of 8” deep honed and slotted colored units. These units were raked to form an 8” by 8” pattern to lighten the upper sections of wall as it moved above the base to support the roof.
The interior quadrants are formed by two saw-tooth masonry walls that cut through the building’s center and soar above all the other elements. The exterior of the walls are smooth colored masonry while the interior walls, which comprise most of the council chambers, are a raked 8” by 8” pattern reflecting the exterior finish.
Perpendicular to the saw-tooth section is a long public lobby running the entire length of the building comprised of colored honed masonry with precast lintels and with raked masonry forming an 8” by 8” pattern above, reflecting the exterior finish. Adding to the interesting features of the lobby are the long radius masonry walls forming the council chamber and the tall main entry corridor walls. The tall entry corridor walls, caped with full width skylights, highlight the delicate and innate beauty of the building. A twelve foot masonry beam, located at the entry to the council chambers, appears to ‘hang’ in midair – with no apparent signs of support from above or below imitating the natural arches seen in southern Utah. Other interesting features of the lobby are large round windows placed in the masonry at each end.
The remainder of the building details is comprised of low sloping and high pitched parapets, square, rectangular and round masonry openings, windows and signage which also add to the buildings uniqueness.
The combination of metal and masonry provided pleasant earth tones and a comfortable environment that is both visually pleasing and inviting, while meeting the needs of the design team. In addition, they also provided the much needed durability and low maintenance the city required with the warmth expected by those using the facility.
Over 11,400 square feet of the MBCI Curved and Straight MBCI BattenLok panels were used. The base material was Galvalume and it was coated with the MBCI Signature Series 300 Metallic (PVDF) in Copper Metallic. Curved BattenLok is available in 16 inch widths and may be curved to a radius of 20’, and being a structural panel, can be installed over open framing or solid decking.