Newark Civic Center

The Newark Civic Center is comprised of the David W. Smith City Hall, the Alan L. Nagy Library, and the Newark Police Department, which are formed around a central civic plaza that serves as an outdoor multi-function event space. These three buildings are in total 84,130 gsf in area. The city hall houses the city administration services, city council chamber and features a double-height entry lobby with monumental stairway. The library houses the full book collection and includes a community room, maker space and separate area for kids and teens. The police department combines their operations into a single facility and includes offices, an emergency dispatch center and training facility. The Newark Civic Center gives the city a new identity in which the community can take pride in when visiting to seek city services or attend events.

The project started with a clean slate approach to creating a new civic center master plan which would replace their outdated facilities. We started the process with getting input from the city architect and individual facility members to form a program for each of the buildings along with exploring various site options in creating a unified civic center master plan. Throughout this process, additional input was gained from the City Council and the Community to further refine the master plan and individual buildings, which we received City Council approval.

Heller Manus Architects, in collaboration with Safdie Rabines Architects and McClaren Wilson & Lowrie, Inc, provided the original schematic design and bridging documents for the Newark Civic Center project. Perkins&Will, as the Executive Architect/Architect of Record, further developed and refined the design and completed the project with their design-build partner, Webcor Builders.