Contra Costa County Administration Building
Replacing a programmatically outdated and contextually out-of-scale office tower, the new ground-up administration building consolidates previously dispersed constituent service offices across Contra Costa County. The new building includes a law library, ground-floor retail space, a parking garage, and office space for multiple County administrative departments including the Office of Racial Equity and Social Justice, Court Security, and County Sheriff.
The new Administration Building is positioned among existing historic structures, anchoring a new public plaza created by the closure of a former city street within the County’s administration campus. The plaza features streetscape enhancements and an innovative stormwater system designed to address the site’s challenging groundwater conditions and topography.
The new Administration Building was designed to meet the County’s ambitious sustainability objectives, ultimately achieving LEED Platinum and TRUE Zero Waste Gold certification.
The all-electric building employs a number of innovative sustainable features, including high performance energy use with on-site photovoltaics and responsibly sourced finishes. The project pioneered the use of low embodied carbon cast-in-place concrete and salvaged materials from the demolished tower in both structural and finish applications.
As part of a design-build project delivery, the design team worked collaboratively with the owner’s representative, construction manager, and stakeholders to develop the design based on robust criteria documents. Feedback from user groups informed both the broader programmatic layout as well as specific details within each workplace. The design of the public spaces—including the lobbies and outdoor plaza—emphasizes constituent service, strengthening the connection between the administration offices and the wider Martinez community.
