BACKGROUND
Beginning in 1972, the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant utilized an incinerator facility to dispose of solids, releasing 20,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. Replacing the two aging incinerators, the Palo Alto Dewatering and Loadout Facility treats and dehydrates the solids. The dewatered solids are then loaded into trucks and taken off-site for further processing. The facility hauls away sixty-eight tons of dewatered sludge each day.
EXTERIOR
The facility takes the form of a two-story, cast-in-place concrete structure containing space for belt filter presses, sludge storage bins, enclosed truck loadout bay, and other process support areas. Core-ten steel cladding, used in other structures throughout the campus, becomes a primary design element for the new dewatering facility. Designers strove to blend the facility into the surrounding built and natural environment while reinterpreting industrial components with a modern architectural palette. The contrasting colors of natural materials combined with the strong vertical proportions along the front of the building create a bold yet well-integrated addition to the plant campus.
INTERIOR
Filled with process equipment, the focus of the interiors was to flood natural light into the process areas. On the first floor of the building, a control room, a sample testing lab, and two small rooms are available for employee use.