Grandview Heights is a small but vibrant city that is connected, but distinctly separate from its larger neighbor Columbus. The long overdue need to replace the City of Grandview Heights main municipal services building, a facility with an original wing built in 1924, provides a unique opportunity to create a new and distinct representation of the community, who they are, and what they believe. This desire to create a facility that houses the city’s primary services into the current century required a careful consideration of the city's culture, history, and values.

The site is an existing city-owned property that will be transformed from a roadway maintenance facility into a strong civic presence along the main corridors of the community. The integration of city government, fire and police all sharing one building is consistent with how the city of Grandview Heights currently operates but is somewhat unique in new municipal facilities today. The program, developed through consensus with all three relevant City stakeholder groups, continues the integration of the civic functions of their current building: city business, fire station and police station.

The decision to maintain this relationship provides many synergies, such as the special connections it creates between the mayor the fire chief and the police chief. This mix of functions creates multiple challenges as well, not just for issues like necessary separation of uses, but also the different and changing community perspectives on city, fire and policing functions. The design therefore needs to support elements of safety and privacy in conjunction with accessibility and civic engagement. As a municipal building, housing essential services like police and fire departments, security and accessibility are paramount. The facility itself balances the need for public interactions with the security levels of a modern police station.