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The AIA Academy of Architecture for Justice (AAJ) selected 27
projects in March for publication in the 2007 Justice
Facilities Review, eight of which received citations for
architectural and design excellence. The projects and their
architects will be published in September 2007 and become part of a
traveling exhibit that will tour the country throughout the
year.
The Justice Facilities Review offers the profession an
indicator of proven strategies and the latest trends in the design
and construction of justice facilities in the United
States. The jury chooses projects for publication that
demonstrate quality of form, functionality, and current
architectural responses to complex justice design issues. Jury
chair Laurence E. Hartman, AIA, of HDR Architecture, Chicago,
writes: “The Justice Facilities Review Jury was
pleased to have several high-quality submissions representing
projects in all areas of criminal justice—from a
single-purpose facility to a multifunctional complex. . . . These
projects exemplify a level of design quality that is exceptional
and will serve as worthy examples for fellow architects or
practitioners in justice.”
The jury comprised representatives from the justice, architecture,
and government sectors who reviewed newly constructed facilities
ranging from courthouses to forensic laboratories to
maximum-security prisons:
- Ron Mason, FAIA, of AndersonMasonDale Architects, Denver
- The Hon. Lewis Babcock, chief judge of the U.S. District Court,
Denver
- Nick Seierup, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, principal at Perkins+Will,
Los Angeles
- Sgt. Pat McAree of the Los Angeles Police Department
- Andrew M. Cupples, AIA, principal at DMJM Design, Orange,
Calif.
- Jeff Beard, PhD, secretary of corrections for the State of
Pennsylvania
The jury recognized the eight projects featured below with
citations of excellence.
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ADAMS COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
Commerce City, Colo.
Architect’s Statement
This addition and remodel to an emergency call center
facilitates better communications and call dispatching services by
providing the staff with a secure, calm, and comfortable
environment that is supplemented by natural daylight and a variety
of spaces for respite. The 6,545-square-foot addition is designed
to house a new dispatch center, support space, offices, and lounge.
The addition's L-shaped organization is reinforced by a secure
masonry exterior and a naturally daylighted zone that activates the
space between the existing building and the addition. The massing
and masonry modulation of the existing building is referenced and
reinterpreted in the addition on both the exterior and interior.
Natural daylighting is maximized by clerestory lighting and
diffused natural light from the south and west lobbies and lounge
areas. The simplified geometry, honest structural expression, and
natural material palette combine to create an environment that has
a calming influence on the high stress emotions of the
dispatcher.
Owner: Adcom 911 Inc., Commerce City, Colo.
Architect: Roth + Sheppard Architects,
Denver
Design-build architect : Adolfson and Peterson
Construction Company Inc., Aurora, Colo.
Photographer: Ed LaCasse, LaCasse Photography,
Denver
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BRONX COUNTY HALL OF JUSTICE
Brooklyn, N. Y.
Architect’s Statement
The image of the courthouse in society was of primary
concern in the design of the building. The program is organized in
a linear manner around an open civic space and layered from public
to private, with the public circulation, animated by a series of
antilevered stairs, facing the open space. Within the courtyard
sets a free-standing public building that serves as the jury
assembly room, gives scale to the space, and is the symbolic as
well as formal focus of the project. The exterior wall design
responds to the various functions within and orientations of the
building. The curtain wall facing the south and west takes the
shape of a folded plane with integrated light shelves that reflect
light into the courtrooms and shade the adjacent corridor. The
intent is to express the building as open and inviting, a metaphor
for the transparency of the judicial process.
Owner: City of New York, Department of Citywide
Administrative Services
Architect: Rafael Vinoly Architects, New York
City
Associate architect: DMJM + Harris, New York
City
Photographer: Paul Warchol, New York City
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DAVENPORT U.S. COURTHOUSE RENOVATION
Davenport, Iowa
Architect’s Statement
The mission of this project was to restore, renovate, and convert a
treasured National Register multiple-tenant federal building and
courthouse into an expanded U.S. Courts dedicated facility.
Continued criminal caseload growth, poor inmate transportation and
security, insufficient space to expand court operations, and an
aging infrastructure rendered the historical building inadequate.
The program included upgrading and restoring the historic
courtroom; adding two new courtrooms, support space, and three new
judges’chambers; expanding court-related offices; and adding
new prisoner holding facilities and new secure judges’
parking. The design removes previous renovations, exposes and
restores significant original interior features, and introduces a
textured glass wall paralleling the original public lobby beyond
which two new courtrooms and support space are inserted. The
courthouse renovation preserves and restores key historic interior
features; provides a high level of functionality; responds to
separation of public, restricted, and secure circulation; and gives
contemporary interior treatment to space outside those identified
for restoration.
Owner: U.S. General Services Administration,
Heartland Region, Kansas City, Mo.
Architect of record: Downing Architects,
Bettendorf, Iowa
Design architect: Leonard Parker Associates (part
of the Durrant Group), Minneapolis
Managing architect: The Durrant Group, Hartland,
Wis.
Photographer: Don Wong Photo Inc., Bloomington,
Minn.
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PLYMOUTH PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING AND CITY HALL
Plymouth, Minn.
Architect’s Statement
Responding to the city's need to provide additional area
for the Public Safety Department and an enclosed garage for police
vehicles, we took a step back and planned the entire municipal
site. The incorporation of these programmatic elements with the
existing City Hall unifies the complex and supports the natural
setting. The secured squad garage is built under, and into, the
natural “bowl,” reserving additional city park area as
well as providing a necessary security separation of police and
staff vehicles. The landscape articulates and supports this gesture
through native plantings and low stone walls. The main entrance to
the Public Safety Department and City Hall is unified by a singular
new entrance and lobby. The new Public Safety Department space is a
seamless addition to the existing building and the
new public lobby connects the original Public Safety Department and
City Hall elements and
gives the resultant structure a new civic presence.
Owner: Plymouth Public Safety Building and City
Hall, Plymouth, Minn.
Architect: Boarman Kroos Vogel Group (BKV Group),
Minneapolis
Photographer: Paul Crosby, St. Paul
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SAN FRANCISCO JUVENILE HALL REPLACEMENT PROJECT
San Francisco
Architect’s Statement
The new Juvenile Justice Center is a state-of-the-art,
150-bed secure detention facility that replaces the existing
facility on the same site and creates a new public identity for
juvenile justice. It provides five housing types for program and
management flexibility. Each of the eight direct supervision
housing units includes program and activity spaces for staff
efficiency, safety, and security. Unit designs vary according to
classifications—single sleeping rooms for high-security
classifications and double rooms for the general population.
Environmental quality, abundant natural light, and artwork
integrated into the design lessen tensions and assist staff in
managing the population.
Owner: City and County of San Francisco
Architect: The Design Partnership, San
Francisco
Associate architect: Del Campo and Maru Inc., San
Francisco
Design-build architect: S. J. Amoroso Construction
Co. Inc., Redwood Shores, Calif.
Photographer: Bernard Andre Photography, Woodside,
Calif.
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SNOHOMISH COUNTY JAIL EXPANSION
Everett, Wash.
Architect’s Statement
The county jail expansion’s form and appearance are
drawn from its unique setting and overarching goal to improve
conditions for staff and inmates. The county’s decision to
jointly operate the new downtown facility with an existing,
adjacent jail was combined with an urban planning strategy that
created a multiple-block civic campus. The project’s overall
massing and details complement these public spaces. Key to the
design concept was a city zoning variance dictating the jail
expansion should not “look like a jail.” Its
fritted-glass curtain wall façade achieves this in two ways:
by obscuring typical concrete walls and narrow jail window patterns
during the day and creating ethereal and unexpected patterns of
diffused light from cells at night. By including video visitation
facilities and secure connections between the separate jail
buildings and courts, the facility offers safer inmate movement for
staff and increased inmate availability for attorney and family
visits.
Owner: Snohomish County, Everett, Wash.
Architect: NBBJ, Seattle
Design-build architect: Mortenson, Bellevue,
Wash.
Photographer: Frank Ooms, Denver
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WAYNE LYMAN MORSE U.S. COURTHOUSE
Eugene, Ore.
Architect’s Statement
The Wayne Lyman Morse U.S. Courthouse in Eugene, Ore.,
serves the District of Oregon as part of the Ninth Judicial
Circuit. The four-acre site is the previous home of the Agripac
cannery plant and is regarded by the city as an impetus for
redeveloping the surrounding area with civic and commercial
development. Rising 22 meters high, the 24,805-square-meter
courthouse has five stories above grade and one level of
below-grade parking. The first two floors hold offices for the
courts, the U.S. Attorney, probation and pretrial services, the
U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. General Services Administration,
two U.S. senators, and one member of the U.S. House of
Representatives. The building's six courtrooms, all on the third
floor, are paired by their purpose—two District, two
Magistrate, and two Bankruptcy courtrooms. Above the courtroom
level, there are six judges’ chambers, one visiting
judges’ chamber, and two separate judicial library
spaces.
Owner: U.S. General Services Administration,
Auburn, Wash.
Architect: DLR Group, Portland, Ore.
Design architect: Morphosis, Santa Monica,
Calif.
Photographer: Tim Griffith, San Francisco
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WILKIE D. FERGUSON JR. U.S. FEDERAL COURTHOUSE
Miami
Architect’s Statement
The building is composed of three elements: two opposing
towers and a glass "crystal" that mediates. There are four
courtrooms on each of the upper floors, grouped around a central
circulation space punctured by a cone-shaped atrium. The east and
west façades are composed of alternating concave and convex
curtain wall “bay” windows surrounded by precast stone
frames. The alternating rhythms, depths, and colors of the
horizontal and vertical sunshades frame the blue-green tinted
glass. The primary material for the north and south façade
of the tower is the same precast stone used to frame the curtain
wall, providing solidity to the elevations. The monumental windows
are arranged horizontally and vertically, each orientation and
fenestration unique, reflecting the hierarchy between office space
and courtroom functions. The architecture is meant to reflect the
importance of what goes on inside making the building a
recognizable icon both day and night.
Owner: U.S. General Services Administration,
Region 4, Atlanta
Architect: Arquitectonica, Miami
Associate architect: Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum
Inc., Miami
Photographers: Robin Hill and
Norman McGrath, Miami
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