North Liberty City Hall

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North Liberty – a bedroom community between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids – has experienced rapid growth, resulting in serious growing pains for City departments and no discernable city center for residents. A “temporary” arrangement scattered departments across multiple locations for 15 years, hampering communication and crowding employees. After reviewing multiple options to solve these problems, the City of North Liberty decided a new facility was needed. A new City Hall now enables major departments to come together on a single campus and regularly host public events at what has truly become a city center.

The building is broken into three volumes denoting its basic functions: a central circulation spine, public meeting spaces spilling into an outdoor gathering space, and City offices that welcome citizens while providing security for staff. A rentable public meeting room – which adjoins the council chambers – gives after-hours restroom access and includes an operable window wall that opens to a public terrace. This terrace has already hosted events with music, movies, food trucks and even a block party. Convenient gathering spaces enable citizens and staff to easily come together to problem-solve and build public trust. The open offices incorporate breakout spaces, a 2nd floor lounge and abundant conference rooms. A 1st-floor break room opens onto an outdoor terrace, and a communal printer/workroom space purposefully provides staff with chance encounters, giving greater inter-departmental cohesion.

New infrastructure improved site access via car, bike and walking. Exterior materials harmonize the building and landscape with the nearby police and fire departments (designed by others) and the Shive-Hattery-designed utilities campus down the road. Points of pedestrian connection come down to the human scale and provide transparency to local governance, strengthening public trust through sensitive engagement of the human condition.