Giovannetti Community Shelter

Project Description

This project meets a requirement for both a recreational building and a storm shelter for the City of Urbandale. It provides a large meeting area, kitchen, storage, restrooms and an office at Walker Johnston Park. It complies with FEMA standards as a protective facility against tornadoes and is designed to resist the highest destructive winds.
Upon approach, steel columns create a rhythm and support a covered entry, aligned with the structure of the building. The landscaped area adjacent to the entry helps to frame the path to the building, while also forming a contrast to the strong, clean lines of the simple building. The building, made of precast concrete panels, steel and wood siding, has a low, rectangular silhouette to enable it to flow with the surrounding landscape.