Aledo City Hall

This City Hall and Police Complex embodies the DNA of its local community by honoring their heritage in Texas Ranching. The design focused on creating a contextual city hall to foster a “sense of place” in its walkable community. This initiative was fundamental to the city’s strategic plan and downtown revitalization. The design included a community park directly in front of city hall which helps activate the festival lawn and was further adorned by using a beautiful 120+ year old heritage oak tree as its centerpiece. The material palette of this city hall tells a beautiful story of the city’s heritage. Each material was selected by RSA’s design team to specifically celebrate the DNA and identity of Aledo. The design choreographed several contemporary materials that felt familial to this ranching community, such as weathering steel which exudes a wonderfully vibrant patina (rust color) and is often found in Texas Hill Country design. Other materials include Texas limestone, natural wood, decorative metal work and corrugated metal. This material palette harkens to historic structures germane to Texas ranches such as welded pipe fences, entry gates with decorative metalwork and stone masonry, natural rock formations, barns and homes with wrap around porches. RSA also reinforced this DNA by use of pitched roofs with standing metal seam to parallel the old “tin roof” context and communal open space under the 120+ year old heritage oak tree. RSA worked closely with staff and council to ensure this design was absolutely contextual to the DNA and identity of this beautiful Texas city.