Northglenn, Colo., recently completed the performance period for its new 32,000 sf city hall and is in the final review process for CORE certification through the International Living Future Institute.

If approved, the project is expected to become Colorado’s first certified CORE project and one of the first municipal buildings in the nation to achieve the designation.

The building’s fully electronic building systems were designed to achieve net-zero operational energy performance. Some 476 rooftop and canopy-mounted solar panels with 195 kW of installed solar capacity generated 252,759 kWh during the building’s first year of operation.

Building materials contributed to a 50% reduction in embodied carbon compared to a conventional baseline building. The structure includes a super insulated envelope and high-efficiency air-cooled Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) HVAC systems. (CORE certification requirements for operational energy target a 70% reduction in energy use from the CORE baseline.) 

Entry points from public right-of-way locations create a welcoming experience for employees and visitors. Generous volume and transparent edges provide a link to the outdoors.

Community spaces shape the ground level and provide access to outdoor patios to the east that are interlaced with a native landscape. The Council Chambers is positioned to capture a view of the Veterans Memorial. The entry is slightly elevated, with steps providing a layer of vehicular security along Memorial Parkway.

The deployment of natural materials fosters a strong interplay with the building’s surroundings, including interlocking zinc metal shingles composing the dominate cladding. A mass timber structural system utilizes glulam and CLT components.

The circulation pattern embodies a ribbon that weaves through the building, engaging the two-story lobby, collaborative lounges, and staff breakroom. The public lobby is shaped by a stair and a tiered floor that absorbs the topography of the site.

Community rooms open to the outdoors, allowing engagement with patios and walkways that traverse the native landscape setting. A rainwater capture system that includes three underground cistern tanks capture rainwater runoff from the roof that is used to irrigate the native landscape plantings.

On the project team:
Owner and/or developer: City of Northglenn
Design architect: Anderson Mason Dale
Architect of record: Anderson Mason Dale
MEP engineer: Ballard Group
Structural engineer: KL&A
General contractor/construction manager: FCI Constructors