Neumann Monson Architects has designed a municipal services building for the city of Des Moines, to consolidate its various departments and facilitate collaboration.

The 105,000-square-foot (9,755-square-metre) office building is the first phase of a larger masterplan to create a new civic services hub for Des Moines, the capital and most populated city in the US state of Iowa.

A central principle of the scheme was sharing spaces between different departments to reduce waste. "The City of Des Moines sought efficiencies through shared-use spaces, shared staffing, and better working environments," said a statement from Neumann Monson Architects, which is based locally.
The project is sited at a crossroads of highways and train tracks, in a former industrial neighbourhood.
"The Municipal Services Center enhances environmentally challenged land with enormous potential for Des Moines; growth and development," the firm said. "The location of this significant public investment contributes to ongoing revitalisation efforts along a major arterial street."

Two programme types are combined within the building. An offices volume occupies the western side, facing the front entrance, while a much larger service volume takes up the rest of the plan. This portion has direct access to a service entrance for the city's large vehicles.

Neumann Monson wanted to separate these different types of spaces, yet maintain a relationship between them. They did so by ...