Travis County Commissioners Court
February 14, 2012 (Agenda)
Item 17
>> number 17, consider and take appropriate action on recommendations regarding furniture selections and architectural issuees for the Commissioners courtroom and office relocation project at 700 lavaca.
>> good morning, Commissioners, judge.
>> good morning.
>> ken gatey with Travis County facilities management.
I'm here today to introduce this item to consider and take appropriate action on the recommendations regarding the furniture selections and architectural finishes for your new courtroom and office over at 700 lavaca.
here today to present is david st out.
ch with hs and a and julie zitter with gsa architects, also lawrence group architects is involved but they don't have a representative here today.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
first of all, briefly on the project that you all know is your new Commissioners court room in 700 lavaca, the project is moving forward on schedule and one of the things that we need to come before you for selection on is the finishes in the public spaces.
as you may know, you all have been presented previously with some information as it would relate to your individual offices.
this relates to the public spaces, quarters, conference rooms and so on.
this has been previously shown to and accepted by the subcommittee and so now we're coming before the court for your approval of the layout and finishes.
I'm going to turn it over to julie.
she is going to run through this quickly for you.
>> there's a microphone on the end there that you will need to use for us.
>> great, well, I'm going to go ahead and start with the first floor.
there's two floors involved on the project.
the first floor involves the actual entry point into the Commissioners courtroom which we consider the hall of government which is actually shown here.
the reason we've given it such great importance which is because of the terrazzo.
it's out here in this existing building and if you visit the airport it's there as well.
it's a poured process, poured product, and this is the pattern that we are presenting.
so it's a combination of different colors of the black, the black and tan, yellow and then the white.
and each of them giving particular prominence to the geometry of the building itself.
we're giving special attention right here to this circular one which is going to become the seal of Travis County in the black granite.
and then the remaining inserts would just be the black triangles.
the other big prominent feature in the hall of government are the wood portals.
and the wood of choice is going to be a pecan wood which is native to Texas.
it's actually shown here.
here's a bigger piece of it.
I'll get to this board in just a minute so that you can see the -- the warm tone of it in relation to the floor.
the other common element that is going to exist on the first floor is the -- in addition to the wood and the terrazzo is the walls where we've adorned them with some glass tiles so you'll see that as well.
the actual courtroom itself is composed of this palate up here.
for ease of -- and efficiency.
so here are the two color options that we're proposing.
in addition to that, there's also going to be a lot of the warm pecan wood in the Commissioners court.
so similar to the dais that you are sitting on now, that's going to be wood and then actually behind you will be wood as opposed to the paint you are currently sitting in now.
so it will personify a lot of warmth.
the other features that we're presenting here are similar to what we have here in the audience, which is
>> [inaudible] seattle.
and because of the volume of space that the Commissioners courtroom has, it's two story as opposed to the one story, we have to involve acoustical panels to absorb some of the sound and make it more useful.
this is the textile that we're proposing there.
the other enhancement that's at the Commissioners court and you currently don't have is a lot of windows.
that will be on the audience side and we're proposing using a roller shade to off set any sunlight that comes in, but it does give you the opportunity to see through that and the view beyond.
the other finishes that exist up here are in your opinion we have gypsum wallboard that receives paint and this is the palate that we're proposing.
we can't forget there's a lot of brick as well and so we've included that.
anywhere where we have a countertop, we are using a corian, a solid surface forks most impact resistance and it's a good use of funding.
if you go on to the -- can I have you hold this?
other public features exist, the public restrooms. This is the pallet up here which would be the tile, accent tile, partitions, and in addition to the second floor space above the Commissioners courtroom we have corridor areas where we're carpeting and using carpet tile and we have some insets.
we also have using some vinyl call covering to take a lot of abuse in some seated areas.
and similar to the palate you saw in the courtroom we're using some paint that we're proposing.
on the basement floor there will be a serving area and well as seating for eating and this is the palate so once the vendor comes in they can take on their identity and some seating here as well.
the remaining finishes are the actual palates for the Commissioner's suites themselves.
do you have any questions to what I've presented thus far?
>> how green are
>> [inaudible]?
>> we've taken that into effect.
the project itself is not being certified for leed, however any time we pick selections we try to make them as green as possible.
I'll give you examples.
the wood is one.
that is native to Texas so it doesn't have to travel as far as perhaps some other woods we proposed.
the other thing are the carpets.
the carpets are carpet tile so it's less waste than broad loom.
in addition to that it helps with a view of the volatile organic compounds because it absorbs and tracks elements that could otherwise exist in the air.
some other features that I can point out to you are the recycled content.
we've made sure to use actually some linoleum in areas, which is from lynn seed oil so it has inherently organic properties to it because it's from nature.
those are just a few elements that we've incorporated to help in-in account to the leed for the green component.
>> okay.
so all that's on the first floor or first and second?
>> this is both second and first floor.
>> there will be an opportunity for interested residents to come by and look at this display, and I guess get some answers to questions if they have some.
>> that's correct, judge.
we're going to make these panels available tomorrow and Thursday from 11:00 to 1:00 right outside the new Commissioners court area in the conference room at the top of the escalators in 700lavaca and we're going to hae tables for input but at this point we would like approval to move forward with the selections.
>>
>> [inaudible] at this point.
I notice Commissioners courtroom and offices and as far as office is concerned, my office has not been addressed properly and you need to make or get with my staff to make sure that my office gets its proper attention.
I'm not going to -- you know, I'm not ready to support anything without my office needs being addressed.
I don't know when you want to do that, but we're not there yet and, of course, just need to revisit us.
>> yes, sir.
>> as far as individual offices concerned.
>> you are correct.
this is just the public spaces, not the individual offices.
>> well, it said offices so it kind of threw me a curve.
>> I'm sorry if I said office --
>> that's what it says here.
>> this is just public spaces.
>> but on the offices in the subcommittee kind of took the position that each member of the court would have the right to make the call on the office.
>> yes.
>> so we were trying to focus on the common areas and to make sure we had agreement on that.
>> that's correct.
>> but on your particular office, with whatever you like is fine with me.
it's just a matter of y'all getting together and figuring out --
>> I just need to visit this because that has not yet been settled yet.
>> well, I move the part of this item taking the offices out.
>> thanks.
>> and let's have this available for public display and explanation Tuesday and Thursday at 700 lavaca --
>> Wednesday and Thursday.
>> Wednesday and Thursday, okay.
this is Tuesday.
so from 11:00 to 1:00.
we thought the lunch hour would be good just in case folk kind of wanted to dash over while having lunch and see it.
>> do we want to get the results of that input before we vote it?
>> I think we ought to go ahead and take the vote and if there is something significant we go ahead and make changes if we agree to do it, but it will be brought back.
we're sort of speeding down the road with a definite deadline in mind, right?
>> yes, sir.
>> do we yet have -- do we know the square foot age cost of the public areas?
>> yes, we do.
I don't have them with me, but we do, and this is in budget.
>> it's been -- from what I've seen so far, it's been very frugally pursued.
frugally yet stylish.
>> thoughtfully.
>> yes.
>> but any and all particular questions are welcome.
just get them to you, right?
>> please.
>> any more discussion?
questions?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
any member of the court who has not chatted with you about his or her office should do so pretty seen or you will contact them?
>> we'll specifically make contact.
>> there's one thing, what about furniture?
are you all talking about the seating and chairs and stuff like that?
>> that's actually the next item.
we're going to be getting samples and specifically the auditorium seating and your specific chairs.
what I'd like to do is get those samples upstairs in the conference room and have you test drive them.
specifically what we're looking for is a high quality chair that has lumbar support, adjustible arms that will be durable long term and we've got some specific ideas, but we would like you to try several out.
>> I think our chuck -- with you working with him?
he kind of watches that issue for chairs for all of us.
yes, and for -- yeah.
>> we'll do that.
I know chuck.
we'll make contact with him, but that is the other item that we wanted to talk about and it's going to be -- we're going to have several sample that is I think you'll like up there on the fifth floor and as soon as we get them up there we'll let you know.
and we would love your feedback on that.
>> thank you very much.
appreciate it.
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