Emeryville City Hall Garden Level Conference Room Renovation

The conference room in Emeryville’s Old Town Hall is small, poorly ventilated, dark, and seats eight people. As there are no other public meeting areas in the Civic Center, besides the Council Chambers, public meetings are held at tables just outside the conference room where the din of copy machines and lunchroom use make it difficult for the City’s 26 committees, who use the space for meetings, to comfortably meet. The City turned to SSA for affordable suggestions to improve the space. These included extending the west wall of the conference room to enlarge it. Also suggested was replacing the existing glass wall with a movable accordion wall that can be closed to create an enclosed space and opened to create an alcove when meetings contain more than 25 attendees–creating a space resistant to ambient noise. Acoustic ceiling treatment, upgrading the fire sprinkler system, lighting, and a new AV system will create an improved meeting area, where hearing each other speak will be crystal clear.