| Two issues were apparent from the outset of the design process: the aesthetic of the existing building and the location. The existing building is a concrete block, two-story court facility with a tile mansard roof built in the 1970s. The courthouse is in a rough neighborhood overflowing with decrepit architecture; a clean visual break was necessary. To create a clear point of entry and separation from the less-than-desirable aesthetic of the existing building, an architectural language was developed that carries throughout the project. A sense of pride is established by injecting new energy into a stale context and providing the client with a building that raises the level of public perception where it is desperately needed.
Careful blending of old and new is facilitated by the play of landscape, hardscape, and interior planter elements. The design draws a seamless connection between exterior and interior space. Stained concrete floors inside the lobby extend to the exterior forecourt where seat walls and a grand stair act as passive vehicle protection as well as create usable outdoor areas for seating and queuing. This area is designed to be a safe place for people to gather as they wait to enter through security screening.
Trees, bamboo, and horsetail reed create a landscape buffer and ease some of the hard building edges. Planters are intertwined into the hardscape to integrate landscaping and bring down the scale where horizontal and vertical edges meet. The precast concrete horizontal plane from the existing courthouse is carried into the addition and is expressed as a cover over the exit doors. This downplays the building exit from the exterior, which alleviates confusion about the building lobby entrance.
The end result is a lobby that peels away from the marching linear circulation corridor to bring attention to the new public entry and create a sense of identity for the courthouse by visually and spatially vaulting toward the main street to the south of the building. Uplighting helps float the entry roof while sleek materials, including metal and glass, draw the eye toward the building. This further solves the problem of a potential future courthouse addition by detaching the bulk of the lobby from the main public corridor, therefore alleviating a costly demolition and addition. The final design solution provides for uninterrupted use of the facility when planned additional expansions are realized.
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