BLOOMINGTON CIVIC PLAZA AND ARTS CENTER SITE PLAN

2003 MERIT AWARD
American Institute of Architects, Minneapolis

The Bloomington Civic Plaza combines its City Hall, Police Station and Arts Center under a single roof. As the City has expanded, its services were beginning to fragment into various locations. This 17-acre redevelopment site, across the street from the City's public works facility, offered an opportunity to create a civic campus that reunites the various services in a single location within Bloomington.

Working with Ankeny Kell Architects, Hoisington Koegler Group created a site plan that responds to the disparate needs of several user groups: City employees, visitors to City Hall and visitors and users of the Arts Center. Each group uses the site differently and each user has a different set of expectations of what the site should provide.

The site plan combines formal outdoor spaces with informal spaces, uses traditional garden plants as well as some less traditional native species, and provides space for several levels of passive recreation. The most prominent site feature, a storm pond, was designed to be an amenity that feels more urban and intentionally-built than traditional storm ponds. Hard edges of the pond adjacent to parking and the building are constructed of stone to create spaces where people can sit, stroll or view public art along the northern edge of the pond.