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Classic Masonry Does Justice to new Temple Law Enforcement Facility

By Rob Patterson

Classic brickwork helped blend Temple's new 45,000-sq.-ft. law enforcement facility into its historic downtown.

"Because it's so close to downtown, the city wanted the same feel as the historic brick fabric there," said project architect Greg Read of Dallas-based Brinkley Sargent Architects. "So we tied into that to some degree."

The majority of the lower two levels of the $10 million, three-story, steel-frame structure recall the masonry craft of yore with concave and convex basket-weave patterns, projections in the brick, arches and cast stone medallions and bases.

"From time to time you do a project that's a little more unique, and this is one of those," said Don Oates, president of the Georgetown-based construction division of C.W. Oates Masonry of Odessa. "The basket weave and details go back to the 1800s, incorporating classic elements."

On the other hand, Read said the city didn't want to feel like it was moving into an old building, so the masonry pedestal is topped on the second and third floors by a modern skin of glass and metal panels.

Oates Masonry laid 267,000 Acme Santa Fe red-blend bricks. A cue on the site directed the brick choice. "There was a street that used to go through the site, and the abandoned portion was bricked," Read said. "I pulled a section of that brick, and we tried to get as close to that as we could."

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The complexity of the masonry work required extra care. "When you have arches and patterning in the brick and you throw cast stone in, it's not just something you are going to run through," said project manager Marcus Schneider of Baird Williams Construction in Temple, which performed the job under a construction-manager-at-risk contract. "It has lots of different conditions: masonry to cast stone, masonry to metal panels, stainless steel through wall, brick laid at different levels and stair-stepped.

"All the window seals are cast stone and everything has to course out to where the windows all line up."

To address modern security concerns and line up the building with the sidewalk, the design called for a two-story wall with arched openings that frames a patio surrounding the main entrance.

"They wanted to be set back from the street in case of an explosives attack or something like that," Read said. "So we decided to move the corners of the building out to hold that historic line but move the mass of the building back."

A cast stone-and-granite lobby provides a welcoming ambience. "You are met by a big curved glass wall on the lobby that's totally transparent," Read said. "That gave us the inviting impression we wanted. All the glass is bulletproof, but with the detailing it doesn't feel like the usual police station."

Stylistic elements also grace the brick-faced CMU wall capped by cast stone that surrounds the parking lot. "We did a little bit of detailing on it and gave it some reveals so you get some shadow play on the long wall," Read said.

A masonry memorial wall near the entrance pays tribute to law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty.

The building's design also addressed the elevation on the site by burying part of an exercise room and lecture hall into the slope. "The requirement for this training room was so large that they wanted to do auditorium-style seating," Read said. "From the front of the room to back you pick it up about 30 in. Burying helped us make up some of the grade difference."

As is common to downtown sites, laydown space was limited. Oates said a high-level of cooperation by all parties was important. "It was a real team effort," he added. "It's the kind of project that could have not gone that way.

"We think it's probably going to be the most beautiful building in downtown Temple. You don't normally think that on a public building."