The government, and its facilities, should be an extension of the people. In order to be a true extension, it needs to be without barriers, without defined territory and without obstacles. Its border should be blurred (and partially erased) between public and private but also in the case of the building, between city and park, inside and outside, civic and private, and timeless and temporal. It is within these terms that the SSA Building in Roanoke, VA shall be designed.
The site strategy and parti diagram have been designed around this notion but also with the rich history of Roanoke as a threshold or crossroad to this early nation. The two major paths that formed Roanoke were the 'Great Road' traveling north and south from New York to Atlanta and the 'Wilderness Road' which travels east and west from the Coast through the Shenandoah Valley to the West. The SSA Building will similarly provide a seamless path from the urban mass of the downtown area and more specifically from Jefferson Street to the serene setting of Elmwood Park.
This 'path' or 'threshold' also forms the public space of the office building as well as providing for sun and temperature control and ventilation. This space may be programmed like a city street with food markets, book fairs, flower merchants, and or cafe style seating while always focusing ones view on the park or the city depending on your direction of travel. It is this space which will allow you to enter the SSA building gradually, will fulfill the First Impressions objective and create a building whose primary objective is to serve the people.