42
‘The first thing visitors do on entering the building is to walk beneath the great, round council
chamber...so the democratic process is defined, captured and visible from all sides’
© Paul Zanre
© David Barbour
and VAT). In the Council’s case, for instance, their share of the cost was raised by divesting existing properties and identifying capital investment savings and reduced lifecycle costs associat- ed with occupation of a new and efficient single building. “The model effectively provided us with a new building for
very little,” says David Forsyth, head of property services for West Lothian Council. The 20,000m2
Civic Centre was completed last year on a
former pitch and putt golf course on the River Almond, com- prising publicly accessible facilities such as the debating chamber; sheriff and justice of the peace courts and facilities for the high court; the police divisional HQ and Livingston police station; a custody suite with 32 cells and the family pro- tection unit. The building also houses the regional procurator fiscal (public prosecutor) and children’s reporter (child protec- tion services) as well as the district registrar (they deal with births, deaths and marriages). Support staff for all the above are housed within the Civic Centre. Placing all these services within the same building could
have confused its many visitors and so architect, BDP’s Scottish team, worked hard to clarify the spaces and circula- tion. From the exterior of the building, the civic rooms, com- prising courts and the council chamber, are identified by their weathered brass cladding, and the council chamber is suspend- ed within the shared Civic Space.
Indeed, the first thing visitors do on entering the building is
to walk beneath the great, round council chamber (this is cap- tured within a large over-sailing orthogonal roof plane, which shelters the entrance and the war memorial) so the democratic process is defined, captured and visible from all sides. After passing beneath the chamber, visitors come into the
central, double-height atrium of the building – the civic space with the obligatory cafe - lit by clerestory windows (casting intriguing bars of light onto the walls when the sun shines) and face a desk staffed by receptionists trained to cope with a wide variety of needs that the general public might have, and to direct them to further services. Meeting rooms line the space so that staff from each of the partners in the Centre can meet members of the public in a shared space. The reception set up has been designed to help people who may have complex needs requiring the input of several different public agencies in a single visit. Importantly, all services are accessible from the civic space, so all are granted equal importance under the hier- archy of space. Also leading off the civic reception space are offices,
arranged as two fingers on either side of an atrium “street,” and shared between the partners including the council, the police, the courts service, the procurators fiscal and the children’s reporter. This street is surmounted by huge, south-tilted lanterns, visible from outside and allowing light to enter
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68