Private Justice Architecture Firm in Kentucky

http://www.cmwjustice.com/justicewhoweare.html

In its 47-year history, CMW, Inc. has developed a reputation as Kentucky's unrivalled leader in the planning and design of courthouses and detention facilities. No other firm in Kentucky has planned and designed more detention center or courthouse projects than CMW. With a multi-disciplined staff of over 90, CMW is among the largest architectural / engineering firms in the State. The firm maintains offices in Lexington and Richmond.

Project: Laurel County Justice Center
Location: London, Kentucky

The Project consists of the design and construction of a new 88,970 square foot stand-alone judicial facility to meet the current and future program needs of the court system.
The proposed site is in downtown London , two blocks south of the existing Courthouse and directly across from the London Federal Courthouse. Due to the size of the site, site development will include limited amount of on-site parking for court staff and the public.

A vehicle drop-off area at Main Street will be provided to allow public transportation and private vehicles to unload passengers before moving on to park. Additional parking will be available to court staff and the public off-site adjacent to and near the new facility in the downtown area. The building will be set back and raised slightly above the public street to provide a public plaza fore-court to the building which will be paved and landscaped. This will provide the court with a symbolic approach and furnish protection from vehicle intrusion.

The lower level secured parking, the first floor secure prisoner vehicular sallyport, the first floor loading dock and facility garbage collection will each be accessed from Broad Street at the rear of the building.

The basic court floor and the organization of the court sets (paired courtrooms supported by detainee transport, court floor holding cells and attorney conference rooms) generate the basic structure for the building. A two court per floor configuration provides the best balance of circulation and floor plate size to fit the site. The building is organized using the basic tenet of modern justice facilities: complete separation of judges, detainees and the public until their circulation paths come together in the courtrooms.

The current build-out will place two typical courtrooms and two ADR rooms on Level 2; one courtroom and two hearing rooms on Level 3; and two typical courtrooms on Level 4. However, because Levels 2, 3, and 4 have identical floor plates with detainee service cores internal expansion is possible. Level 3 can be reconfigured to provide up to a total of 6 typical courtrooms in the future.

When complete, this building will carefully balance the necessary richness and traditional values of the courts with the emerging societal demands for a more transparent, understandable and friendly civic institution.

Exterior materials will be chosen to present an image of permanence and civic importance. Therefore, the main building material will be brick with accented use of pre-cast concrete. Aluminum and glass curtain wall, storefront and windows will be utilized to open up the public side of the Court to the city. Glazing will have a slight tint and low-E coating for thermal efficiency.

Most spaces in this facility will have finishes that will include acoustical panel ceilings, painted gypsum board walls, rubber base, carpet flooring and solid core wood doors with steel frames. Upgraded finishes will be provided for such spaces as the courtrooms, judges' chambers and main lobby/atrium. These finishes will include wood paneling and trim, stone flooring and ornamental metals as the budget will allow.

The HVAC system will be a water-source heat pump system. Heat pump units will be located above ceilings throughout the building served by a cooling tower located at the roof of the building. Fresh air will be provided by roof-top air handling units with duct trunks down into the building. The main mechanical room will be located at the basement level adjacent to the secure parking garage. The building will be fully suppressed (full sprinkler system) and be equipped with a fire alarm system. Electrical will include all necessary interior and exterior lighting, power and data communication systems throughout the building.

The building will be equipped with security access control and monitoring systems, and audio video systems, and the courts SUSTAIN data management system, as directed by the Administrative Office of the Courts.

American Institute of Architecture - Architecture and Justice

http://www.aia.org/caj_default

http://www.aia.org/kc_links


Justice Architecture
The Academy of Architecture for Justice (AAJ) promotes and fosters the exchange of information and knowledge between members, professional organizations, and the public for high-quality planning, design, and delivery of justice architecture.
If you wish to become involved with the Academy of Architecture for Justice, call AIA Member Services, 800-242-3837, and ask to designate AAJ as one of your knowledge communities.Contact: Allison Fax

blog.aia.org/justice

In November - San Francisco
Neuroscience and Courthouse Design Workshop: Understanding Cognitive Processes in the CourthouseBy Christina Noble, Assoc. AIA, LEED APThe Academy of Neuroscience of Architecture was created with the mission to research links between neuroscience and “human responses to the built environment.” As Dr. Fred Gage stated in his Lecture on Neuroscience and Architecture, “the places we live, work and play are changing our brains and our behavior all the time.” Neuroscience research has determined that the brain controls behavior, genes control the brain’s “design and structure,” and the environment impacts gene’s function. As a result, environmental changes impact behavior. Click here to read more.

West Virginia Society of Architects/AIAPO
Box 813Charleston, WV 25323
Phone: 304-344-9872
Fax: 304-343-0205
E-mail: roberta.guffey@aiawv.org
Web: www.aiawv.org

New Pulaski County Judicial Center

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuyX3-SwcGA

The New Pulaski County Judicial Center in Somerset, Kentucky. Bennett Rosser International, Architects. Music by Michael Jonathon,woodsongs.com

Denver Justice Center Courthouse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKLUyxmcsZ8

In December 2005 Steven Holl Architects, in collaboration with klipp Architecture of Denver, was selected to design the Denver Justice Center Courthouse. The $99 million, 335,000 s.f. courthouse project will be the centerpiece of the city's downtown Justice Center, which will also include a new post office, a new detention center, and a renovated county jail. Steven Holl Architects was chosen from a shortlist of firms that included Foster and Partners, Richard Meier & Partners Architects, and Kallmann, McKinnell. The new Denver Justice Center Courthouse will be located on West Colfax Avenue between Delaware and Fox Streets, in an area of Denver known as the Golden Triangle. The courthouse building is programmed to accommodate the County and District criminal and juvenile courts and will include 35 jury courtrooms. The project is part of an overall Urban Design Master Plan intended to emphasize and expand Denver's Civic Center as the urban centerpiece of the community.

Initial Thoughts and Websites

BRENDA: SO wild...I was waiting for something to heat up and decided to google around justice and courthouses...WOW. I immediately ran across the attached paper-which certainly looks like the idea is to make it pretty. Here are the first 2 links.

http://www.justiceenvironments.edu.au/home

http://www.aia.org/caj_alliedevents

PAULETTE: Here is the link to S. Africa's Constitutional Court and its art collection - Justice Albie Sachs is the curator - he has been very eloquent about how important the art is to making people feel that they are achieving justice by seeing themselves. More digging needed -

https://mail.su.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.constitutionalcourt.org.za/site/artcollection/overview.htm https://mail.su.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.constitutionalcourt.org.za/site/judges/justicealbiesachs/index1.html '

the architecture of the South African constitutional court building:

http://www.constitutionalcourt.org.za/site/thecourt/thebuilding.htm

"Public buildings normally shut off the outside world. Normally you get swallowed up in the power of the state or corporate entity, but here the building is saying, 'I belong to you, you belong to me' " - Justice Albie Sachs

"The building design was not about style but a value system enshrined in the Bill of Rights and the response to physical aspects of the site" - Janina Masojada, one of the principal architects

"The Constitutional Court building, indeed the entire Constitutional Hill precinct, will also stand as a beacon of light, a symbol of hope and celebration. Transforming a notorious icon of repression into its opposite, it will ease the memories of suffering inflicted in the dark corners, cells and corridors of the Old Fort Prison. Rising from the ashes of that ghastly era, it will shine forth as a pledge for all time that South Africa will never return to that abyss. It will stand as an affirmation that South Africa is indeed a better place for all" - Nelson Mandela, the former president, at the ceremony to announce the winner of the competition

The building: In 1893 a high-security prison was built on the Braamfontein ridge in Johannesburg. A few years later, the building of a series of forts around it strengthened the establishment and gave it military capacity. That site became a landmark.

It was known in some circles as the Johannesburg Fort and in others as Number Four, the name given to the frightening section in which black men were jailed. The complex housed three notorious prisons: the Fort, where white inmates were kept; Section Four and Section Five, the "natives' jail", built in 1902; and the women's jail, added in 1909.

Hundreds of thousands of people were jailed there - including famous figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Albert Luthuli. Nelson Mandela paid the Fort a visit first as a young lawyer, then as a prisoner and finally as the president of South Africa. The prison was closed in 1983, leaving a scar on Johannesburg's metropolis - a bleak reminder of our painful past. It is unusual for a court to be built on the site of a prison, yet the Constitutional Court's judges deliberately chose the Old Fort - for the very reason of its history. This historically rich site - where densely populated and frenetic Hillbrow meets leafy and affluent Parktown and bureaucratic Braamfontein - is now Constitution Hill, the home of South Africa's highest court.