Photos courtesy of Kyle Jeffers and Anthony Lindsey Photography
Sunnyvale Civic Center
Sunnyvale, CA
Business Type
Multi-phase plan update
Size
City Hall 120,000 square feet, DPS 5,800 square feet; EOC 11,000 square feet
Architect
SmithGroup
Owner
City of Sunnyvale
Certifications
- Net-Zero Energy
- LEED Platinum
Sunnyvale Civic Center demonstrates how civic infrastructure can simultaneously advance sustainability, resilience, and public service—creating a campus designed to support the community in both everyday operations and emergencies.
The City of Sunnyvale's Civic Center Master Plan is transforming the city's aging civic campus into a high-performance, resilient hub for public services. Working with SmithGroup and the City of Sunnyvale, PAE provided mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and regenerative design services for Phase 1 of the redevelopment, helping establish ambitious goals for net-zero energy, carbon reduction, healthy buildings, and resilience. The resulting design integrates all-electric building systems, on-site renewable energy, battery storage, and microgrid controls to support both sustainability objectives and critical operations during emergencies, creating a model for the next generation of resilient civic infrastructure.
Special Features
- Targeting Net-Zero Energy and LEED Platinum certification
- All-Electric: designed to offset 100% of annual campus energy use through on-site renewable generation
- Integrated solar, battery storage, backup generation, and microgrid controls
- Projected 73% reduction in peak electrical demand with solar panels
- Heat recovery heat pumps for central heating and cooling plant
- Dedicated infrastructure for Emergency Operations Center and Public Safety facilities
- Enhanced indoor air quality and wildfire smoke resilience measures
- Long-term framework such as a microgrid for a sustainable, resilient civic campus
