Saint Petersburg Police Department Head Quarter

Saint Petersburg, FL

The new Head Quarter for the Saint Petersburg Police Department is a $78.3 million project and is considered one of the most critical buildings in the city. The headquarters, which will also house the city's main data center and its emergency operations center, is built to survive a Category 5 hurricane.

The client wanted a modern police facility that met the practical needs of the force and incorporated more of the safety aspect of it. However, it was equally important that to the outside the building was designed to feel welcoming to the public so that the inhabitants of the city would feel that he building belonged to them too. Thus, the spacious corner lobby features a transparent shell with floor-to-ceiling-windows that pulls you in from across the street with art placed throughout the lobby. On the back-end, the 3-story state-of-the-art facility features 168,000 square foot of work space for the 562 police officers and over 220 civilian workers, as well as an emergency communications center that is top-rated in the country and a large, new 12,000-square-foot evidence room with high-density storage.

Another important aspect of the brief was sustainability. The 1,450 solar panels — the largest solar project at a city facility —will help to power the police station, while other used strategies were low water use and recycled materials. The concrete tilt-wall envelope holds walls with windows and doors that can be easily removed to meet changing needs.