RTC South Strip Transfer Terminal
Las Vegas, Nevada
Citizens Area Transit is the public bus system for the Las Vegas Valley. The South Strip Transfer Terminal is designed as a passenger transfer anchor for the system at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip.
The operations supervisor is positioned to provide view corridors to all bus bays in the platform area and to the bus staging area. Twenty-four hour access to driver and passenger facilities are located at the mid-point of the platform to minimize pedestrian travel distances. The main lobby area is easily identified from different areas of the site. Shade structures at each bay provide shelter not only for passengers, but also for the buses. The tall vertical columns of these structures are a juxtaposition to the natural horizontal character of this type of facility.
The South Strip Transfer Terminal echoes a ship with many features, including the sail-like canopies that direct airflow for passengers and the terminal floorplan gently curving towards a bow and stern.
View corridor requirements from the supervisor area have been incorporated into the design by shaping the building around these view corridors and by restricting the number of columns that are located within the view cones. The main “community” space includes the lobby, food court and gaming areas. Two large expansive glass walls flood the lobby with indirect light and offer passengers maximum views of the bays.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s (LVMPD) Fingerprint Bureau building replaces a renovated building constructed in the 1960’s. Housing the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), this building is where all work applicants in Clark County requiring a Sheriff’s work card come. Additionally, this location is home to the more than six million fingerprints kept on file by the LVMPD.
A lobby with seating for 125 people is serviced by a four station check-in counter. A potential applicant gives their critical information at the counter and it is entered into the AFIS system. The applicant then proceeds to the fingerprint station and then the photograph station. The AFIS captures all of the applicants’ data and stores the information within the LVMPD system. This electronic process replaces the paper card, ensuring a faster identification time with a reduced storage space requirement.
The facility is also the location for concealed weapons applications and convicted felons registrations. A staff of 55 employees operate within the 18,000 square foot facility. The building will reduce a very stressful procedure by being environmentally pleasing for both the patrons and the employees with the use of protected exterior spaces and comforting interior spaces.
United States Postal Service
Crossroads Station
Las Vegas, Nevada
Situated in the heart of the explosive growth of Northwest Las Vegas, Crossroads Station is located in a sprawling suburban setting.
The materials on the exterior public side of the building were chosen to help the facility blend into the residential atmosphere, while allowing it to maintain its presence as a public service facility.
Strong horizontal lines reflect the linear aspects of the site and the new beltway.
In 2003, KGA Architecture
begins our thirteenth year of collaborative work as architects
for the United States Postal Service. The Postal facilities
we have completed during those years stand as constant reminders
to all of us at KGA of the significance of public architecture.
In the 27 year history of our firm, no other projects have
had as much community impact, as both efficient spaces for
the conduct of a neighborhoods’ business and as symbols
of stability and permanence instantly recognized by all.
KGA is proud to present Genoa Main Post Office
and Meadows Mesa Station, both with innovative architectural
design. Genoa received two significant architectural awards
in the design category.
City of Las Vegas
City Hall Addition and Communication Center
Las Vegas, Nevada
Built in the early 1970’s, the City
of Las Vegas City Hall was set on the world famous Las Vegas
Strip. In the last 30 years, the City has outgrown the building.
This project was created to address the needs of the city
till the year 2010.
As the first step of a four step masterplan, this project
consists of three buildings, organized in a horizontal format.
The primary office space is a two-story building who’s
massing rotates around the curved south face of the existing
City Hall tower. A continuous glass ribbon skylight allows
the sun to reflect off of the existing travertine into
the new work spaces. A new public lobby is located on Stewart
Avenue giving City Hall a much needed southern entrance.
A key ingredient to the organization of this project is
an enclosed, elevated walkway from the second floor of the
addition to the third floor of the garage. This pedestrian
lobby allows the public direct access to the administrative
areas from the parking and protects the public from the
desert sun.
A second-story parking garage provides ample parking for
both the public and employees and clears the way for the
next phase of the master plan, which will be located at
the site of the existing garage.
At the far end of this project is a two-story communications
center. This building is home to two television broadcast
studios, editing bays and all other support facilities,
to enable the city of Las Vegas to maintain its public access
broadcasting.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
Substation and Academy
Las Vegas, Nevada
Providing a local headquarters for the law
enforcement agency, a substation and academy are also symbols
of order and stability for the neighborhood. The Las Vegas
Metropolitan Police Department Substation and Academy complex
is developed to fulfill this role, both functionally and
aesthetically, as a central element of the neighborhood.
Sharing a common site, but with very different uses, the
relationships among the buildings and the various public
and secured parking areas was carefully studied to provide
maximum control while allowing the most flexibility for
future uses.
The site has been masterplanned with well defined public
access through the parking areas and to the front doors.
The buildings are clearly identified with signage on the
building and a monument sign in front. The exterior articulation
of the building allows the substation and academy to be
sited into the neighborhood.
The roof forms are residential in shape and the scale
is friendly. The masonry walls and metal roof provide long
lasting, "maintenance-free" construction, but are also warm
in color and rich in character. This complex sits comfortably
in the residential setting.
Community Resource Center &
Justice Facility
Las Vegas, Nevada
The Community Resource Center incorporates four public
entities on one site to establish both a presence of strength
and stability and a sense of community interaction. Sited
near the intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Carey
Avenues, the project encompasses a public plaza and four
buildings including a justice facility with two courtrooms
and three facilities with client and activity spaces for
Family and Youth Services, Social Services and the Economic
Opportunity Board.
The courtyard which connects the four buildings, offers
areas where visitors and employees can sit, walk or congregate.
Because each building is designed with its main entrance
off of the courtyard, it naturally serves as a gathering
space. As the visitor walks through this courtyard and moves
further from the street, the scale of the buildings and
the site work becomes smaller; the seating and planting
areas become increasingly intimate until the visitor reaches
an art wall which marks the plaza’s edge. This transition
in scale and perception is a metaphor for the user’s
procession through the institutions, themselves, moving
through the walls and through a system designed ultimately
to focus great attention on the individual.
In addition to promoting community interaction and individual
attention, the project promotes a sense of involvement and
ownership by including art walls which are designed to display
work created by people in the community.
The materials for the buildings and site walls includes
vibrantly colored masonry and stucco in desert hues as well
as slate tiles and metal canopies which delineate primary
entrances.
