Letters

Letter from the Chair
by Frank Greene, AIA

At the recent National Association for Court Management (NACM) conference, the AIA Academy of Architecture for Justice (AAJ) presented a pilot program: “Getting the Courthouse You Need,” a training program to help prepare court administrators and judges to be better clients. We will offer this program regularly at the annual NACM conference, and we plan to expand the format to multiple sessions covering all aspects of the planning, design, and construction process.

Likewise, our Sixth International Conference on Courthouse Design approaches (see "News" section below), a glance at the schedule reveals a wide range of topics. Over the two days of the conference, September 26 and 27, we will offer presentations about renovation and reuse of historic buildings, building information modeling, security, art, and project management. Our theme of "Sustainable Justice" is clearly relevant to the justice community and broader than the idea of greening justice facilities. The three conference tracks—The Courthouse in Its Urban Setting, The 21st-Century Courthouse, and The User-Friendly Courthouse—were developed to approach the meaning of sustainability from different perspectives.

Read the full letter

News

Register by August 3 and Save!
September 26–28, 2007, New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge
Earn up to 10 LUs

Early registration rates end August 3, 2007, for this unique forum of international expertise on a broad spectrum of issues affecting the planning and design of courthouses. More than 50 speakers from around the world will present on topics relevant to courthouses' function, design, and significance to society. The schedule will include 18 different educational sessions in three distinct tracks:

• The Courthouse in the City
• Defining the 21st-Century Courthouse
• The User-Friendly Courthouse

Our keynote speaker will be Andrea Leers, FAIA, of Leers Weinzapfel Associates, recipient of the 2007 AIA Architecture Firm Award. Leers is an architect with generous international experience to share. In addition, attendees will have a choice of courthouse tours within walking distance of the conference hotel. A series of receptions during the conference will add to attendees' opportunities to network with colleagues and exhibitors. Finally, the conference will host the Justice Facilities Review Awards Gala. This event will honor all 2007 award winners and feature special presentations on the eight citation-winning projects.

Why New York?
The AIA was born in New York City more than 150 years ago—on February 23, 1857—when 13 architects met in the office of Richard Upjohn, in a building he designed at 111 Broadway. The group initially called itself the New York Society of Architects but later changed its name to the American Institute of Architects. When the group filed a certificate of incorporation in Albany, N.Y., on April 15,  its stated aims were "to unite in fellowship the architects of this continent and to combine their efforts to promote the artistic, esthetic, scientific and practical efficiency of the profession." For more about AIA history, see the AIA150 Web site.

New York City is also the site of more than 30 of the 150 structures chosen as America's Favorite Architecture in the recent AIA and Harris Interactive poll. See the complete list of New York icons on our conference Web site or see the full U.S. list at www.favoritearchitecture.org. By the way, the New York Times recently covered all these wonderful New York City places in its May 27, 2007, Travel section article, “A Tour With Head Tilted Up.”

For complete, up-to-date information, see the "Sustainable Excellence" conference Web site.

The 2007 Justice Facilities Review (JFR07), to be published September 2007 by the AIA Academy of Architecture for Justice, showcases 27 cases of exemplary strategies and the latest trends in the design and construction of justice facilities throughout the United States. The jury of six representatives of the justice, architecture, and government sectors reviewed newly built facilities that ranged from courthouses to forensic laboratories to maximum security prisons.

The jury awarded citations for the highest level of architectural and design excellence to these eight projects:

• Adams County Communications Center, Commerce City, Colo.
  Roth + Sheppard Architects, Denver
• Bronx County Hall of Justice, Brooklyn, N.Y.
  Rafael Viñoly Architects and DMJM + Harris, New York City
• Davenport (Iowa) U.S. Courthouse Renovation.
  Downing Architects, Bettendorf, Iowa, and Leonard Parker Associates (of The Durrant Group), Minneapolis
• Plymouth (Minn.) Public Safety Building and City Hall.
  Boarman Kroos Vogel Group (BKV Group), Minneapolis
• San Francisco Juvenile Hall Replacement Project.
  The Design Partnership and Dal Campo and Maru, San Francisco, with design-build firm S.J. Amoroso Construction, Redwood Shores, Calif.
• Snohomish County Jail Expansion, Everett, Wash.
  NBBJ, Seattle, with design-build architect Mortensen, Bellevue, Wash.
• Wayne Lyman Morse U.S. Courthouse, Eugene, Ore.
  DLR Group, Portland, Ore., and Morphosis, Santa Monica, Calif.
• Willkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse, Miami.
  Arquitectonica and Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, Miami

Read the full article

NACM Chicago Show Exhibits JFR07 Boards
The AAJ is happy to announce that the 2007 Justice Facility Review exhibit boards were displayed at the National Association for Court Management 2007 Conference. During the exhibit hours, AAJ Advisory Group members and staff answered questions about the AIA, the AAJ, the JFR program, and our events.

The theme of the 2007 NACM Annual Conference, held in Chicago July 8–12, was "The Base: Court Governance and Accountability" —recognizing what thoughtful and accomplished court leaders have learned from reading, reflection, and, most important, their own experience. At the base of court effectiveness, even in courts led by extraordinarily talented individuals, are governance and accurate and continuous performance measurement. Concepts and theory are important, but so are experience, practical applications, and well-digested experiments. Together with leadership, these factors enable the creation, development, and strengthening of impartial, independent, and effective courts.

Courts

Managing the California Court Building Program
by Rona G. Rothenberg, AIA

Superior Court of Riverside County

California has the largest court system in the United States, with more than 8 million filings per year. Recently mandated changes required a building program to meet the courts' planning, design, construction and facilities management, and real estate requirements. In 2003, the Office of Court Construction and Management (OCCM) was formed to implement legislation that shifts governance of California’s courthouses from the counties to the state. OCCM’s stewardship of this program includes the following:

• Trial court master planning
• Strategic planning for capital outlay
• Funding to support design and construction of new and renovated courthouses
• Real estate and facility management for the Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, and the 58 trial courts—one in each county of California.

Read the full article

Denver Justice Center Update

The new Denver Justice Center Courthouse is scheduled for completion in May 2010. Rendering from klipp Architecture/Ricci Greene Associates/Harold Massop Associates Architects

AAJ Journal has been following the progress of the Denver Justice Center Project since early this year. The design and civic ramifications of urban justice projects are an increasingly important topic among architecture professionals. Three articles in the local press recently updated the status and reviewed the progress of the project. We invite readers to comment on issues of justice design, collaboration, and community involvement in the urban center.

We invite readers to comment on issues of justice design, collaboration, and community involvement in the urban center on the AAJ blog.

Justice taking shape: Demolition signals progress on jail-courthouse-plaza complex (Rocky Mountain News, 5/19/07)

'Signature' lost in plans (Rocky Mountain News, 5/19/07)

City justice center over budget; cost of building materials blamed (Rocky Mountain News, 6/20/07)

JFR06 Featured Courthouse:
Pembroke (Ontario) Courthouse Renovation and Addition
NORR Limited Architects and Engineers, Toronto

The design for the Pembroke Courthouse Complex achieves a balance between the tight site, the technical demands of the program, and the desire to integrate a heritage courthouse, registry, and jail. The result is an enriched public circulation that uses the original elements as landmarks within the complex, adding tradition and authenticity to the visitor’s experience.

Read the full article

Law Enforcement

Toronto Police Service Training Facility and Firing Range
by Michael D. Ellis

In mid-2009 the Toronto Police Service (TPS) will open its new Police Training Facility. The $65 million project has been roughly 10 years in the making and one of the largest, and most expensive, facility undertakings in the 50-year history of the TPS. Therefore, the project has been subjected to scrutiny at the board, command, public, and political levels. What was not lost during that process, however, was the realization that a professional police service must be capable of effectively training its officers. Having poorly trained officers on the street was and is not an acceptable risk.

The central feature of the training facility will be two 30-position indoor firing ranges, a close-quarter-battle facility, a tactical village, and the associated support facilities. The facility is intended to meet the training requirements of 5,500 front-line officers and 2,000 civilian support staff. Site services and foundation installation are underway.

Read the full article

JFR06 Featured Law Enforcement Project:
San Jose (Calif.) Police Department Substation
RossDrulisCusenbery Architecture Inc.

This boldly conceived project is intended to anchor a community that is only now emerging as San Jose, the county seat of high-tech Silicon Valley, redefines its identity. The painterly and humanistic qualities of the architectural expression provide a rich and nuanced foil for the abstraction of its form. The landscape and geological references of the building walls help to root the building in the deep history of the place, in a form that is fresh and welcoming to visitors.

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Mixed-Use Facilities

LEED^®-ing the Justice Industry
by Carol Kleinfeldt, MRAIC, LEED AP

The complex takes advantage of the site in terms of views, natural daylight, and solar and wind exposure. Photo courtesy of KMA Inc.

When the Greater Toronto Airports Authority pursued LEED^® Silver certification for its new Fire and Emergency Services Training Institute, it accepted the challenge of constructing their first certified building as an example of their commitment to sustainable building technology and willingness to be held to the high standards of the LEED process.

The completed project, comprised of the school itself, administration offices, apparatus and vehicle bays and three training structures on Toronto Pearson International Airport’s property, achieves these standards by incorporating readily available low and high tech building technologies in innovative ways into every part of the building design to improve not only its environmental and economic performance, but also its functionality and architectural design.

Read the full article

JFR06 Featured Multiple-Use Facility:
Combined Transportation Emergency Communications Facility, Austin
DMJM Design, Los Angeles

Photo: Joe Aker, Aker/Zvonkovic, Houston

The 75,000-square-foot combined transportation, emergency, and communications center in Austin is a highly sophisticated, LEED silver-certified structure housing 151 public safety employees. The highly sophisticated regional mission-critical public safety facility supports the existing and new operations of emergency communications for the greater central Texas region.

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Corrections and Detention

Greening Corrections: Fuel Cell, Solar Panels Save Energy at Santa Rita
From Correctional News, linked with permission

A rooftop solar-panel system covers three acres and can generate 1.2 megawatts of electricity.

A new fuel-cell power plant, coupled with an extensive solar panel system, can provide up to 80 percent of electricity needed at the Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County, Calif. The power plant—dedicated in August 2006 and producing energy by May 2007—is the first megawatt-class fuel-cell cogeneration plant in California and the second plant of its kind in the United States.

The system, located behind the jail’s kitchen, also meets the facility’s hot-water needs. The plant generates 50 percent of electricity needed at the jail and produces 98.5 percent fewer emissions than traditional combustion-engine power plants. Because the emissions are so low, the county did not even have to get an air-quality permit for the project because it is certified as ultra-clean.

Read the full article (January/February 2007 issue of Correctional News, pg. 28)

Design Roundtable: DMJM Officials Talk Corrections
by Matthew Crawford, Correctional News, linked with permission

As one of the leading architecture firms in the justice market, DMJM offers a variety of services to nationwide clients at correctional facilities, courthouses, and other facilities. As the firm proceeds into 2007, it is shifting from a product-oriented practice to a solutions-based practice.

Correctional News recently spoke with four of the firm’s leading employees during a teleconference: Andrew Cupples, AIA, principal and leader of the justice practice; Gregory Offner, vice president responsible for program and construction management services; Kenneth Jandura, AIA, justice principal and head of the practice’s Washington, D.C., office; and Michael Retford, AIA, justice principal responsible for the western U.S. justice market.

Read the full interview (March/April 2007 issue of Correctional News, pg. 31)

JFR06 Featured Corrections and Detention Facility:
Los Angeles Metro Detention Center
Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum Inc., Culver City, Calif.

Located in the heart of the downtown civic center for one of the largest cities in the country, this 96-hour detention facility strives to organize and present itself in a manner that befits its civic location, addresses community concerns, incorporates building and systems design elements compatible with LEED^® requirements, and gives staff a safe, efficient, and state-of-the-art operational facility.

Read the full article