The building was built for the city departments. The tower part of the structure is where the offices and departments are while the lower structures are for the art gallery, community room, council chamber and television studio. Previously, different departments had been renting spaces in different locations and various buildings in the city. One of the main goals was to create a sense of community in the structure for the city departments in one location (as shown in the image above). By bringing all the departments together they hoped to generate a sense of pride in the area for both the citizens of the city and the workers in the structure. The project’s foundations were pushed to the boundaries of the site to allow for a central courtyard that provides shaded walkways, captures evaporative cooling from a central water feature, and channels prevailing winds. This also created a greater sense of community on the site of the structure for the workers and citizens of Chandler (9). The location of the building was also essential in the build. The new city hall was built in the historic downtown of the city. This was because that area was falling into disrepair and had very little activity occurring in it and they hoped to rejuvenate the area by bringing the city hall to it with a new exciting design(10). The building includes administrative offices, a television studio, council chambers, an art gallery and pubic lobbies as well as having pedestrian friendly surroundings for citizens of the city to walk around(11).

The project successfully manages the income of sunlight to the indoor areas. The overall use of glass in the six-story tower allows for the structure to harvest the daylight. By doing this, it is reducing the number of lights required for the building. Energy efficient windows and unique shading strategies help reduce heat absorption and power consumption throughout the whole 12800msq structure (11). Although Chandler receives high levels or sunlight all year around, the structure has been designed to control the amount of sunlight reaching the indoor environment. This is done by creating features such as the shaded pathways for pedestrians to comfortably move around the site and adjust to the daylight once they leave the building. Although they are not completely shaded they provide a slight reduction of sunlight penetrating through. The building also uses louvers (shown in the image above) to control the amount of light reaching the indoor areas. The intense light can make the space uncomfortable particularly where someone is seated beside the window. The optimal amount of light in an office space is 500 Lux so the louvers can will still allow the area to meet this without over penetrating. The louvers allow enough light to prevent the need for artificial light throughout the day. The building is mainly open plan which allows the light to penetrate without disturbance. Shade fins are used on the south façade to almost bounce the light into the interior. The Smith Group were constantly provoking the idea of the energy reduction strategy. The façade to the west of the building features a rather artist looking feature. It is called Turbulent shade and is a hinged feature without stainless steel panels. Each panel is 6 by 21 inches (13). These 1800 panels move with the wind to shade the whole western façade. At night these stainless steel panels are illuminated by LED lights and become an artistic piece. Below is an image of the change from daytime to the night on the western façade. The use of stainless steel also allows for the sunlight to almost bounce back into the structure. So even at times when daylight isn’t strong the light is still being bounced indoors. This building proves to be an excellent example of good daylight design and sustainability. Hence why it has won numerous awards such as nine IES Illumination Awards, the IALD Lighting Design Excellence Award for exterior facades, AIA Top Ten Green Project for 2012, and the Engineering News Record’s Project of the Year.