Architecture for Sustainability and Safety
The courthouse was designed to make the best use of its sunny downtown location and maximizes the use of natural daylighting throughout. Each floor is organized around a central space where light floods in through a large skylight overhead. Its serrated façade is designed to achieve a north/south orientation that maximizes daylight harvesting and views while reducing solar heat gain by 47 percent and reducing glare.
The facility incorporates numerous sustainable features:
- High-efficiency building systems
- Water-efficient fixtures
- Green roofs over the Jury Assembly Room and cafe
- Drought-tolerant landscaping
- 100,000-gallon underground rainwater cistern for irrigation
- 250 kW roof-mounted photovoltaic solar panel array that will produce 525,000 kWh annually
- The building achieved LEED® Platinum certification.
Due to its location, seismic design was a key consideration in the structural engineering of the building. The design incorporates an innovative structural engineering concept that allows the cubic courthouse volume to appear to float over its stone base while being one of the nation’s safest buildings.
U.S. General Services Administration