The PnCH, at the apex of the new civic triangle formed by the library and the post office, will provide municipal outreach and create a grand public space for the citizens. The new complex will support the neighborhood with city services and a district council office, serve the expanding commercial district, provide civic spaces for community participation in governance and recreation, and offer additional neighborhood parking.  We believe the building should be visible, prominent, and transparent; it should confer equal status on the city services and Citizen’s Hall; and the communal public spaces must be a great attractor to all ages on a daily basis. In the tradition of public buildings, the PnCH will be monumental, yet also informal and populist - hence, the anti-monumentalism of its openness, accessibility, and transparency.
 
The Zocalo is the heart of both the complex and the business/government district.  It will become the center of Pacoima community life; a place that will be used together with, and independent of, the Pacoima Neighborhood City Hall.  It will operate in the manner of time-honored public plazas for a variety of  formal and informal events. Activities can include: 1. Public addresses by elected officials; 2. Cultural ceremonies; 3. A market place; and, 4. Informal gatherings.  Strategically sited public space can work in traditional ways and will once again play a vital role in the political, social and cultural well-being of a community.
 
The PnCH is comprised of four parts that yield the unified whole: 1. City Services - two-story city offices organized in three parts on two floors; 2. Citizen’s Hall and Palco - the Citizen’s Hall is on the 2nd level for prominence, visibility, and viewing the city when the citizens are meeting. The Palco, covered with a lightweight shade structure, will be the city “skybox” offering views of the mountains, parades, or events in the Zocalo;  3. Retail and Café (and general hang-out zone); 4. The Zocalo, for civic life.
 
A Los Angeles map prominently featuring Pacoima will be ‘drawn’ into the concrete ground plane, representing Pacoima’s geographical and symbolic context.  The map will include the cardinal directions (NSEW), freeways, mountains, and other cities and function as a ‘conversation piece’ and trigger for story-telling.