Town of Grimsby

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The Town was in need of a facelift, but was not sure how to go about it. The hired Mayhew to develop a feasibility study / report which was derived by the analysis of the existing space and by executing focus sessions designed to understand the culture, workflow processes, vision, adjacencies, and so forth. This enabled us to identify areas of weakness and concerns. The end result was a rejigging of the existing space by concentrating on the circulation of staff verses public interaction which inevitably required the addition of a new council chamber. The key here was to create something new from something that existed, paying respect both to the community and to the existing building itself. The result was a work on forms which balanced new with old and modern with traditional.
The 15000 sqft existing facility was expanded to a 22000 sqft public icon.

This shot is taken from the council chamber members podium looking into the chamber itself. This was the addition that was created to act both as a hall for exhibits and a hall for speaking. The forms here are expressed through massive irregular columns (which hide the folding circular partitions) but also support the massing cylinder which hides all the HVAC, Acoustic treatments and lighting for the space.

This shot captures the lounge area in front of the public counter and the main entrance pathway. This parthway separates the staff area from the public area by means of a glass atrium. This atrium also acts as a transition from the old building to the new - a link if you will.

Private Office

Public Counter looking out onto the atrium hallway and entrance.

Atrium - Main axis hallway and entrances at opposite sides. All columns in the space are irregular and make the space more dynamic. The whole addition to the existing building was basically a box to keep costs down, and so, the way to bring dynamism to the building would be to work with the interior by making it irregular and non-static.