Civic Center for the Waxahachie Community Development Board
The Waxahachie Civic Center is a multi-purpose facility of approximately 60,000 square feet situated on a prominent 17-acre site at the intersection of Interstate 35 and Highway 287 in Waxahachie.
Waxahachie’s board desired a building, which would reflect on the city’s historic architectural history. Thus the character of the Waxahachie center is defined with materials of granite, cast stone, and manufactured stone to blend in both scale and color with buildings of an earlier period. Details in cast stone on the twin towers of the main entry, the massive stone divisions of the main gallery space and it’s barrel vault roof of standing seam metal add to the reminiscence of the venerable Ellis County court house in the center of town. A grand arched entry leading to the main lobby focuses on the civic center seal in cast bronze and set against a dark granite background. A circulation spine across the front of the building leads the visitor into the building from the parking areas on each side of the building. Multifunction areas range from small meeting/conference rooms to a multidivisional grand exhibit ballroom of 18,000 square feet for seating of 1200 at a banquet, to a special function room with glass exposure and access to a landscaped garden for weddings and receptions. The center has a Performance Area with stage lighting and sound systems designed for drama productions and concerts. The infrastructure is in place for the use of the latest technology in audio/visual and tele-conferencing for corporate meetings. Service areas include large storage space for furniture and equipment and a large catering preparation area to serve banquet and gala functions. The Waxahachie Community Development Board selected M T Crump, M T Crump Architects to design their new Civic Center and associate architectural firm, Ron Hobbs Architects. Members of the board had visited the Humble Civic Center, in Humble Texas, and liking what they saw, said “if we could just move their center up here that would be terrific”. As you can see the vision of each client is different even when they initially say, “I like it just like that”. We listen to our clients to bring out their visions for their community.
See the article published in special section of Feb/Mar issue of Texas Architect magazine – “New Jewel for Waxahachie”.
Or see the web site www.texasarchitect.org/ta/special.html