Project: College Station City Hall
>>>The design of the new College Station City Hall was inspired by the city’s origin as train station which led to the area being chosen as the location for the first public college in Texas, known today as Texas A&M University. Situated far back from the street, the building itself is deceptively large. The three-story building has masonry reaching 50’ tall with a four sided 77’ tall masonry clad clock tower.
The materials that were supplied and installed on this project include 170,000 Sioux City Modular brick; 10,000 full thickness Arriscraft units in various finishes; 1,200 Arris-Tile; 59 different shapes of Arris-Cast cast stone totaling over 1,300 pieces; 2,400 SF of Hanover pavers; 800 split face and ground face colored block; and 1,100 SF of Southern Silver Pearl Limestone.
The façade brickwork incorporates many different details utilizing half bond, stacked bond, rowlock and soldier coursing. The project also incorporates projected vertical banding, picture framing in relief and corbelling in relief between Arriscraft units at the top of the structure. In order to accommodate and support the corbelling of the brick, forms were created so that the Arriscraft and brick were installed uniformly throughout the project.
The grand entry is highlighted with massive cast stone arches and 4 large pilasters that required a high level of planning, coordination and detail work to incorporate the steel downspouts from above. Both sides of the entry feature an arcade that is completely clad in Arriscraft and Arris-Cast material with self-supporting archways throughout. The 10 smaller arcade archways required large 52” tall by 26” wide jamb pieces, weighing approximately 1,350 lbs. each, to be set at 16’ tall. Negative forms were fabricated to seat the stone as they shipped and a second set was fabricated for installation and to guard against damaging the stone. The biggest challenge was safely setting the stone at the 50’ tall entry. These oversized pieces are 50” tall x 37” deep x 20” wide and weigh approximately 2,250 lbs. each. Chain falls were necessary to both move and install these large pieces. In addition, in order to accommodate the many different stone shapes, a variety of mechanical methods and anchor types were utilized, requiring extensive engineering.
The exterior details flow into the two-story main lobby. The entry wall elements feature brick, Arriscraft and Arris-Tile and the cladding at the stairs has both full veneer Arriscraft and Arris-Tile incorporated in the same plane in order to hide structural elements beyond it.
A unique feature on this project is the use of Southern Silver Pearl Limestone on a 15’ tall by 50’ long segmented wall behind the Council Chamber Bench. The limestone was quarried and fabricated in Alabama and shipped directly to the site for installation. The wall was broken into 5 separate segments with each segment being 3 courses high. Many of the first course pieces were very fragile because they are 6 feet tall and only 7 inches wide. These same long thin pieces had a 2-inch mitered return epoxied to them to give the wall a shadow effect and the illusion that the wall is much deeper or wider than it actually is.
The new building is a true work of art that pays homage to classic train stations through the use of brick and stone, a classic clock tower and multiple masonry arches. The finished structure is reminiscent of the city’s history with the railroad and is built to service the modern College Station community for many decades to come.