Setting a new benchmark for sustainable public architecture, 500 County Center is the first Net Zero Energy civic building constructed with mass timber in the U.S. The new 5-story ulta-low carbon headquarters houses several San Mateo County departments and the Board of Supervisors’ Chambers Auditorium—a central community meeting place.
Scheduled to receive LEED Platinum certification, the design was driven by ambitious sustainability goals addressing both embodied and operational carbon— leveraging an innovative timber structural system that reduces materials and systems on site. This mass timber structural design delivered an overall reduction in embodied carbon by 85% relative to conventional steel construction.
The building’s H-shaped volume links two distinct and previously disconnected neighborhoods of Redwood City: the civic campus to the east, and the downtown commercial core to the west. These create two new plazas that are linked by the glass- enclosed lobby that also acts as an event space, and a pre-function area that can serve as a pre- function and event space for the Board Chambers. All occupants benefit from a design approach centered on biophilia, primarily the result of the use of Cross Laminated Timber exposed ceilings, glulam beams and columns, creating a sense of connection to nature.
This project achieves excellence across the board, from its urban design and siting—creating a civic presence within an urban context—but also inviting and welcoming the public in. It elevates civic architecture to a very high level, while at the same time embracing innovative, resilient, sustainable technologies such as mass timber passive design. It really hangs together, both in terms of a piece of architecture, the interiors, and again, as a as a piece of civic architecture.
