Civic Portfolio: Designs for Community

CIVIC PORTFOLIO

designs for community

LS3P is designing stronger, safer, and more connected communities.

expertise and resources with small-firm relationships and service.

In everything we do, we’re guided by our vision: In our commitment to the Southeast, we create architecture that enriches community through a culture of design excellence, expertise, innovation, and collaborative engagement.

the process of architecture to create outstanding places to learn, live, work, heal, and serve.

LS3P has designed over 500 projects for civic clients across the country. From cultural institutions to public safety facilities, municipal offices, and everything in between, we are committed to modern and sustainable designs that enhance livability for communities across the region.

MYR ARTS & INNOVATION DISTRICT

At our core, we are a design firm, dedicated to engaging people in

PUBLIC SAFETY TRAINING CENTER

With deep regional roots and a national reach, we offer large-firm

SLED FORENSIC LABORATORY

transformational designs since 1963

RICHLAND SANDHILLS LIBRARY

At LS3P, our mission is to engage clients and communities to design meaningful places that serve people, organizations, institutions and communities. At our core, we are a design firm, dedicated to contributing our best to projects, clients, communities and each other with integrity and passion.

Our diverse mix of clients, markets and project types unlocks new doors for clients and in our practice.

This broad range of expertise allows us to create innovative solutions and provide unique insight to address the complexities of the built environment.

U.S. COLORED TROOPS MEMORIAL PARK | WILMINGTON, NC

Myrtle Beach Arts & Innovation District MYRTLE BEACH, SC

OUR FOCUS

The Arts + Innovation District is the result of a remarkable collaboration between diverse stakeholder groups, ranging from local leaders to state entities.

During the design and planning process, the design leadership of these entities has been instrumental in engaging the community, advocating for public space and equitable housing, preserving and celebrating the City’s history, and building consensus.

The Arts + Innovation District will be communitydriven and amenity-rich-centered around the vibrant arts and innovation culture. The confluence of residential, cultural, commercial, and civic uses will create a center of gravity for Myrtle Beach, capitalizing on the idea of “locational magnetism.”

As we build on the City’s history and traditions, we look forward to a new chapter: one that embodies innovation, identity, and inclusion. The District will unify citizens around a common point of civic pride and help the City become a four-season destination and even more desirable place to live.

The District will be defined and delineated by eight strategic components, each contributing to the rich mix of amenities and uses. These include a reinvigorated “main street” at 9th Avenue, a retail hub at the historic Downtown Core, a vibrant park, a cultural hub with a children’s museum and library, a commercial gateway with a blend of uses, a central civic complex including City Hall, workforce housing, and an art museum. Together, these elements will create a myriad of live/work/play opportunities to attract multigenerational visitors and residents alike.

Master Planning, Urban Design, Architecture, Interior Design, Branding

Confidential Public Safety Training Center SOUTHEASTERN USA

OUR FOCUS

Architecture, Interior Design & Experiential Graphics

This leading-edge training center embodies a mission to provide a state of the art training environment for first responders, and to create essential community connections and amenities throughout the campus.

Two facilities, a Leadership Institute and an academic building, form the foundation of the public 85-acre campus. The Leadership Institute provides a variety of multi-purpose classrooms; a lecture hall with pre-function assembly space, community room, and warming kitchen; and program-specific office suites.

At the center of the assembly space is an educational community art exhibit paying homage to local history. The academic building provides a variety of simulation training spaces, multi-purpose rooms, an administrative component, and fitness center.

The public campus provides ample outdoor education areas, an assembly field, outdoor event spaces, and a memorial to fallen officers. The two buildings are designed to complement each other through the use of architectural details and finishes.

The facilities are targeting minimum LEED Silver certification, and will include a rooftop solar array.

Wando Mount Pleasant Library MOUNT PLEASANT, SC

OUR FOCUS

Architecture & Interior Design

This new 40,000 SF library serves the Mount Pleasant and Carolina Park communities, highlighting a connection to the surrounding site through interior, exterior, and landscape design strategies. The interior materials palette references wood, bark, water, natural light, sun, and even growing grass in the Children’s Wing. Clerestory windows allow daylighting throughout, and each wing offers seating along expansive windows with views to nature, trees, and the wetlands beyond. An outdoor space features a large tree with landscaped berm seating for outdoor gathering or quiet reading.

A children’s wing with a reading oculus, story time room, and pop-out window seats is visible from the library exterior, generating excitement and engagement from the entry as children identify their dedicated space. Other program spaces include an adult wing, young adult wing, café, computers with computer instruction space, meeting and group study rooms, and a large meeting room which is also suitable for public events. An automated Material Handling machine puts state-of-the-art technology front and center, and a self check-out helps to streamline the visitor experience.

AWARDS: AIA South Carolina (2020) | Floor Focus

(2020) | AIA South Carolina (2021)

New Hanover County Emergency Operations & Government Center WILMINGTON, NC

OUR FOCUS

Architecture & Interior Design

The new government center for New Hanover County provides a 35,000 SF emergency operations center and 911 call center in service to the community.

The full facility spans 100,000 SF and includes collaborative office space. Due to its coastal location, the building is designed for resilience - incorporating impact-resistant glass and screening to protect mechanical systems from wind-borne debris during a storm. The building also utilized a mix of tilt-up and conventional construction for durability.

In addition to the government center, the full site will include a myriad of uses for the County and its residents.

AWARDS: Tilt-Up Construction (2023)

Fuquay-Varina Community Library FUQUAY-VARINA, NC

OUR FOCUS

This new public library is strategically located to serve as an anchor for its growing neighborhood, community, and town. Commensurate with a modern library’s function which extends far beyond housing books, the building creates a hub that citizens will use for research, entertainment, seminars, gatherings, group or individual study, and reading.

The design incorporates exterior spaces to encourage active use as a community destination for after school and weekend activities. Located 1.5 miles from a bustling, growing downtown district, the site will accommodate anticipated future phases of growth and expansion to a regional library.

The building’s orientation maximizes daylighting and passive solar design. The simple geometry, combined with subtle, intentional moves which respond to interior functions, creates meaningful connections to both context and site. The roof folds upward on the east façade to bring daylight deep into the interior, while solar shading fins and low E glazing control direct glare and heat gain.

A layered exterior with planes of brick, metal panel, and curtainwall creates a human-scale façade with a well-defined entry sequence and framed views both in and out. A contemporary metal panel canopy delineates the entry, while an adjacent courtyard garden creates an outdoor gathering space. Solar shading fins on the east facade allow controlled natural light and views.

Architecture & Interior Design

City of Wilmington Project Grace WILMINGTON, NC

OUR FOCUS

This 86,000 SF urban development creates a cultural hub in the heart of New Hanover County, with ample streetscapes, a captivating entrance, and nods to the City’s historic architecture. A museum and library anchor the project, fostering a sense of community that is deeply rooted in education. Complementing the urban fabric of Wilmington, the façades merge contextual brick detailed in modern techniques with large amounts of glass, strategically controlling natural light. The library is wrapped with glazing etched in a pattern representative of the books within its walls. Ballast stone planters line the streetscape, a nod to the shipping foundation that Wilmington was built on, and shaped in a poetic gesture that pays homage to the Cape Fear River. A solar canopy serves as a crossroads of placemaking and learning, as it creates a gathering space for patrons, filters light for museum exhibits and event spaces, and offers the opportunity for the community to visualize the impact of sustainable materials on local ecology.

Inside, the lobby flows seamlessly into the library and museum, guided by a continuous metal feature wall with wood panel touchpoints strategically placed along the way. Unique wood ceilings define each program area while creating a cohesive aesthetic throughout. Finally, the core circulation path stitches the two programs together with sculptural stairs that unite the interior into a singular idea.

AWARDS: AIA Wilmington (2022)

Urban Design, Architecture, Interior Design

Renewable Water Resources Laboratory & Environmental Education Center GREENVILLE, SC

OUR FOCUS

Architecture & Interior Design

The laboratory for Renewable Water Resources (ReWa), a water reclamation organization, appears to grow out of the land on its grassy site. The client wanted the design to create tangible connections between ReWa and the community, and needed the building to serve both public and industrial functions.

Clarity and simplicity drove the design, creating a high performance building which is at once functional and beautiful. The materials palette of stone, metal panel, and glass creates a modern aesthetic for a utilitarian building. The long, linear form integrates fully into its site; generous horizontal bands of rhythmic windows allow daylight into the building while emphasizing the elongated form.

From the exterior, the building is welcoming and visible from a prominent street and helps reflect ReWa’s brand and mission to the community. The project also claimed a previously underutilized site, bringing a new energy to its neighborhood. Inside, the design provides flexibility for multiple uses with a layout that clearly delineates public and educational areas from secure back-of-house areas. A wide sheltered porch helps connect the indoors and outdoors while creating a shaded gathering space for employees and visitors alike.

SC Law Enforcement Division Forensics Laboratory COLUMBIA, SC

OUR FOCUS

Architecture & Interior Design

The new South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s (SLED) Forensics Lab houses 11 different forensic sciences departments, each with unique functions in processing evidence associated with potential criminal activities. Integrated technology supports state-of-the-art science for staff while providing robust emergency and security systems.

The three-story, 120,000 SF facility incorporates sustainable design strategies for daylighting and energy efficiency. The design brings a modern aesthetic to a state agency building, and the footprint accommodates both visitors touring the labs and secure functions. The program includes collaboration spaces, a training facility, and second-floor outdoor space staff functions.

Town of Kiawah Island Municipal Center KIAWAH ISLAND, SC

OUR FOCUS

Architecture & Interior Design

By early 2015, the Town of Kiawah Island had outgrown their previous Town Hall - an underparked structure located on a site that was much too small to accommodate the Town’s recent growth. The reimagined Municipal Center resides on 27 acres along the Kiawah River. This expansive location can balance multiple uses for Town staff and residents, ranging from office space, to equipment storage, to an outdoor event venue.

The Municipal Center includes approximately 18,600 SF of conditioned space housing around 30 employees plus a 6-bay garage for the Town’s wildlife and utility vehicles. To avoid flood plain concerns the building pad and grade around the building was filled into a level of 1-foot above the design flood elevation.

The building design is inspired by the arts and crafts style of architecture using vernacular materials and site elements of a plantation style with colonnades of trees lining vistas.

North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services Campus RALEIGH, NC

OUR FOCUS

In collaboration with Gensler, LS3P prepared a masterplan that proposed consolidating all staff offices of the Department of Health and Human Services into one complex. LS3P programmed over 800,000 SF of departmental space planned for two new office buildings, over the course of the two phases. Currently only one building for the first phase is being developed in order to bring together staff scattered throughout multiple other office sites. The proposed masterplan included the co-location of their Central Administrative Offices, all Divisions, as well as Support Services staff.

This project is on a strict timeline for Phase 1, where the campus has to be operating and move-in ready by summer of 2025, when the State’s lease at its current location runs out. This would be less of a challenge with a private commercial office, where decisions are made relatively quickly; being a State office, the project will be high-profile, strictly funded, and long lasting.

This project has been extremely collaborative and engaging to create a campus that is supportive of the employee’s health, well-being, and ability to deliver services to the citizens. The campus represents a desire towards stewardship of the citizens they serve and toward engagement within their new location.

Just as their original campus was an integral part of Raleigh, there’s an expectation of bringing some civic synergy to their new location.

Master Planning, Architecture, Interior Design, Experiential Graphics

Charleston County Teddie E. Pryor Social Services Building NORTH CHARLESTON, SC

The three-story, 171,690 SF facility serves as the central location for Charleston County’s Social Services Hub, with multiple community service outreach departments co-located within one “home.” The design aesthetic embodies the values of “community,” incorporating guiding principles to develop a civic facility focused on the common good through a human-centric approach. The facility provides space for the Department of Social Services (DSS), Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS), Department of Health & Environmental Control (DHEC) Clinics & Vital Records, outpatient and inpatient treatment areas for the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services (DAODAS).

These include residential treatment facilities, an opioid treatment program, a daycare for residents’ children, and a residential crisis stabilization unit as well as administrative, training, and conference facilities to support all activities.

The location, which is integrated within the North Charleston community, fosters connectivity of multiple services within one facility. The site creates an easily accessed civic hub which will include a large bus transfer/transit center, a regionally planned bus rapid transit station, a police substation, and an expanded historically significant public library.

The civic-minded open public area hardscape and landscaping will help re-energize the area. Easily maintained outdoor spaces also include a secure playground for the children in the daycare, and a Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) community garden with the potential to teach clients to grow their own vegetables and fruits.

OUR FOCUS

Architecture, Interior Design, Experiential Graphics

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Emergency Operations Center CHEROKEE, NC

OUR FOCUS

Architecture & Interior Design

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Emergency Operations Center houses the tribe’s Information Technology and Public Safety departments.

This 24,000 SF Operations Center allocates one floor to each department, containing offices, conference rooms, training classrooms, and a 911 console room.

A reflection of its wooded site, heavy timber trusses accent the facility’s interior.

The Center is designed to meet LEED Gold standards, with provisions for excellent indoor air quality, efficient building envelope, and natural daylight for 90% of the building’s spaces.

Pender County Courthouse Renovation BURGAW, NC

OUR FOCUS

Architecture & Interior Design

Pender County Courthouse began with an assessment in which we examined the building in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, investigating extensive water intrusion on the East wall. We developed recommendations and budget for replacement of finishes, removal of asbestos, lead treatment, new code-compliant HVAC system, and ADA upgrades. $5.6M in needed repairs were adopted in the County’s budget, including separate packages for exterior re-pointing and interior renovations. Pre-construction work included extensive negotiations with FEMA and insurance companies for reimbursement on behalf of the owner. Exterior envelope improvements included complete repainting of the building, window repair, a new roof, and storm window repair.

City of Jacksonville Fire Station 10 JACKSONVILLE, FL

OUR FOCUS

Architecture

Since its establishment in 1927, Fire Station 10 has evolved into a bustling hub of activity within the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department (JFRD). As one of Jacksonville’s most vibrant stations, it houses Engine 10, an advanced life support engine, Ladder 10, a Safety Car, and a Battalion Chief. Its significance extends beyond immediate borders, overseeing three other fire districts within JFRD’s second battalion.

To meet the area’s growing demands, Fire Station 10 undertook an expansion journey. Collaboratively helmed by Auld & White Constructors and LS3P (formerly ENB Architects), this project was commissioned by the City of Jacksonville to rejuvenate and expand the historic station on McDuff Avenue in Riverside, a thriving neighborhood. In this endeavor, two new drivethrough bays seamlessly blend with the existing structure on the northern façade. The renovation also embraced the station’s culinary core, invigorating the kitchen and breathing new life into its functions.

AWARDS: ABC Project of the Year (2023)

Lake James State Park Visitors Center NEBO, NC

OUR FOCUS

Architecture & Interior Design

The new visitor center for Lake James State Park offers a welcoming and engaging experience for travelers. This single-story structure features a large exhibit hall, retail space, meeting rooms, administrative suite, public amenities, and building service areas. The site also features an outdoor learning space that doubles as an amphitheater.

Overlooking Lake James, the visitor center sits on a ridge and serves as the trail head for the accessible path to the new steel and concrete pedestrian bridge.

This bridge connects the visitor center to the Fonta Flora Trail, with culture connections planned to the Yellow Mountain Trail, offering cyclists a seamless route through the natural landscape.

Inside, the visitor center offers a glimpse into the area’s natural and cultural heritage. The exhibit hall offers an educational space for visitors to learn about the park’s recreational activities, cultural history, natural habitats, and local points of interest.

Located in the former Jekyll Island Historical Power Plant, The Center’s stateof-the-art design will focus on education, rehabilitation, and research.

Jekyll Island Sea Turtle Center Renovation JEKYLL ISLAND, GA

The facility will provide 13,000 SF of space for labs, lab offices, a water quality technician suite, training, administrative offices, and associated support functions.

City of Raleigh Water Compliance Laboratory RALEIGH, NC

Designed in collaboration with Pearce Scott Architects, the renovation of a former school building creates an open and inviting civic space.

Bluffton Town Hall Renovation BLUFFTON, SC

The park is designed around the impactful new statue by Stephen Hayes, Boundless, featuring 11 soldiers whose faces were made from life masks of descendants of USCT veterans.

U.S. Colored Troops Memorial Park WILMINGTON, NC

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