San Jose Civic Center

"It's transparent, it's open, it's the way government should be."

This is the new San Jose Civic Center, according to architect Richard Meier. The simplicity of his statement cleverly belies the complex efforts it took to achieve his vision. This project joined the politics of the 10th largest city in the U.S., Richard Meier & Partners, the partnership between two independently successful general contractors, the Turner/Devcon Joint Venture, and 45 prime subcontractors on a three-year epic journey.

"As the owner of this monumental project, the City of San Jose looked to engage a construction management team that would possess the chemistry needed to successfully interface with the City as well as the contractors on the project," said Randal Turner, deputy director, San Jose Public Works. "Like many stakeholder organizations, we felt that the team needed the fortitude to make the necessary personnel changes to ensure conditions for a positive chemistry were maintained through the duration of the project. The Turner/Devcon Joint Venture created this team attitude by consistently assessing and re-assessing its own team to ensure that proper skill sets were always present and available to the City to provide the successful delivery of this project on time and within budget. This was a true team collaborative effort in every respect."

The goal of the new Civic Center was to not only unite city government in one central location, but also highlight San Jose's role as the unofficial capital of Silicon Valley and revitalize the downtown economy. To achieve the city's objective, Richard Meier's design totals 711,909 sq. ft., including five acres of below grade parking, an 18-story tower, three-story Council Wing, and a 108-ft.-tall glass domed Rotunda, all linked together by a 620-ft.-long battered stone wall walkway/gallery. Each element brought unusual challenges to the construction team.

Conventional office building design includes centralized cores housing elevators, rest rooms, mechanical shafts, electrical and telecommunications rooms. Meier's innovative open floor plan, designed to maximize natural light and provide unobstructed views, has these functional elements housed behind shear walls at both ends of the structure. The narrow tower is supported laterally with moment frames in one direction and concrete shear walls in the other.

The steel framework was erected quickly, but the concrete shear walls were slower due to the intricate scaffolding, rebar and formwork required for vertical concrete pours. Structural instability resulting from the pace of the shear wall construction threatened to stop the steel erection and pouring of floor decks. Turner/Devcon, structural steel contractor Strocal Inc, and structural engineer Englekirk & Sabol developed a solution to allow the continuous erection of the steel independent of the concrete shear walls. Additional welding was added and temporary cross bracing was installed at the interior bays to provide additional lateral support. This allowed the tower crane to be jumped to finish the steel erection and for the floor deck infill to be poured as the concrete shear walls trailed behind. As a result, the joint venture re-engineered the schedule and facilitated a simultaneous shell and interior build-out.

Combined with laterally bracing the structure was the challenge to erect the Brise Soleil (sunscreen) at the west face of the tower. This curved steel framework, weighing 500 tons, cantilevers from the 12th to the 18th floors with an outward projection of up to 30 ft. Temporary 12-story shoring towers were installed, and remained in place until all welding was complete, to allow Brise Soleil steel to be erected concurrently with tower steel and to minimize deflection of the framework.

The exterior of the tower and Council Wing is defined by the inclusion of elaborate design features, including complex curved skylights, radiused walkways, curved trellises, balconies, glazed and metal clad canopies, vertical and horizontal sunshades, and exposed exterior stairwell 19-stories in height. The project incorporates many "green building" features, and meets the basic requirements for LEED certification.

The rotunda's 100-ft. diameter is larger than the dome of the U.S. Capitol Building. It is comprised of 1,036 panes of glass and is the only structure of its type and scale in the world to use the unique exterior cable supported radiused point fixed glazing. The Battered Wall, which ties the project together, is elliptical in shape and is constructed of a multitude of shaped steel members clad with suspended Indiana limestone. In addition to the curve of the wall, the slope of the batter changes as it travels from one end to the other.

It is testament to the strength of the city of San Jose, Richard Meier & Partners, associate architect Steinberg Architects and the entire construction team that the complex San Jose Civic Center is successfully complete and exceeds expectations.

Owner's Comment:

" A true team collaborative effort in every respect." -Randal Turner, deputy director, San Jose Public Works

Project Team:

Owner: City of San Jose
Architects: Richard Meier Partners
Steinberg Architects
Construction manager: Turner/Devcon Joint Venture
Engineering team:
Englekirk & Sabol Inc.
ARUP
Key subcontractors:
Strocal Inc.
Enclos Corp.
Rosendin Electric
J&J Acoustics
Conco Cement Co.
ACCO Engineered Systems

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