The American Institute of Architects

The Portola Valley Town Center replaced three town structures—a library, community hall, and town hall—that sat on top of the San Andreas fault. The new project, set on a surplus public school site, replaced these buildings and turned the old site into a park and play fields. The library contains reading rooms, a children's area, staff offices, and a room devoted to town heritage. The town hall houses the administrative offices; building, planning, and engineering departments; and the town's emergency operations center. The community hall provides a large divisible multi-purpose room, two activity rooms, storage, and a catering kitchen.

The public was very involved in the design process, and a task force established six goals that were used as a metric by the town council, citizenry, and the design team to evaluate design proposals.

• Take advantage of the beautiful site while preserving open space
• Create civic and recreational spaces that are inviting to all ages
• Meet the civic, emergency and maintenance needs of the town
• Create friendly and service-oriented places that facilitate casual meetings
• Exemplify the town's rural design ideals that compliment the landscape
• Be an extension of the town's low key residences and become a "living room" for the town