Completed in 2004, Austin’s City Hall is a distinctive Green Building. Designed by architect Antoine Predock to reflect its natural surroundings, the four story 118,000 square foot structure incorporates local limestone, a cascading waterfall, and asymmetrical shapes. These elements reflect the waterways and canyons of Austin’s surroundings.
66,000 square feet of copper clads the building’s top two floors, roof and its “stinger,” which projects 50 feet out over Second Street. This amount of copper is roughly the equivalent of 12 million pennies!
The building’s unique and somewhat controversial design is anchored by a number of very practical and meaningful features designed to meet the goal of portraying transparent government while providing a meeting space for the continual benefit of the city of Austin.
As a reflection of transparency in government with regard to the design, there are glass walled conference rooms throughout the building, and a conference room that overhangs the atrium from the second floor, known around here as "The Fishbowl". Open balconies and large windows are also a reflection of that transparency.