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Small town public buildings: they aren't ho-hum any more
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Portola Valley Library (photo: Cesar Rubio)
Bucolic. Rural. Horse country. Those are the images evoked by the Penisula town of Portola Valley. Not particularly the place you would expect to encounter strong public architecture.
But Portola Valley's new Town Center (by architects Siegel & Strain and Goring & Straja) is a special treat--good public buildings in an out of the way locale.
Taking some cues from the so-called Third Bay Area tradition (whose best known example is Sea Ranch), the Portola Valley Town Center combines clearly modern forms with a highly developed environmental sensitivity. It's not at all suprising, in the eco-conscious Bay Area, to find buildings that incorporate sustainable design; what's suprising is to find sustainable projects that are still well designed, well crafted, thoughtfully conceived. Too often, green architecture is more green and less architecture--not so here.
Nestled in an opening in the heavily wooded Portola Valley, the Town Center consists of three buildings around a green open space: a city hall; a community building; and a public library. Single story, wood and glass exterior, these buildings are harmonious with their California setting. I found these buildings to be exceptionally well composed, both in plan and elevation, yet they aren't composition for composition's sake. Each line and surface has a reason for existing and as a complete work it all hangs together amazingly well.
Portola Valley Town Center (photo: Cesar Rubio)
Maybe I'm still hopelessy in love with the William Turnbull projects all over Northern California, but the use of wood as an exterior material just belongs in a place like Portola Valley. No other material would have fit this site so well. Not only that, but the architects managed to salvage and reuse redwood from an old school that sat on the site, going so far as to locate a local sawmill that cut and dressed the salvaged redwood for use in the new buildings.
The use of glass, especially in the library, is an example of a balanced response to the climate/environment and the composition of the building facade. Large windows are oriented toward views as well as being placed to admit maximum daylight (one of the simplest green design choices). On those glass surfaces that during the summer will receive too much sunlight (and heat), a system of redwood slats provides shading; the size and placement of the slats accomplish this while admitting light during the colder months. Once again, this is a simple response to climate factors that pays off in lower heating, cooling, and lighting costs. But the important point is that the redwood slats are well integrated with the design of the whole building.
Library interior (photo: Cesar Rubio)
There are numerous design touches that illustrate the thoughtfulness of the architects. My favorite is the use of large tree trunks as interior columns in the library and, yes, the trees used were from the site. We could also look at the many sustainable design features; this project will likely be awarded LEED Gold status. Above all, this handsome complex of structures demostrates that sustainable design does not have to have a clunky, homemade look (remember the hippie built houses from Whole Earth Catalog in the 70's?).
That's what good architecture does; it integrates the purpose of the buildings with the best technology and does it with artistic sensitivity. That's what this project does and does well.
