Type: Addition & Renovation

Size: 250,000 sq. ft.

Cost: $102,300,000

Services: Mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and technology

 

The project was planned for completion in three phases. The existing site consisted of the courthouse and annex building, the historic courthouse building, and a surface parking lot. The overall project involved demolition of the courthouse annex and surface parking lot, construction of a new 4-story, 250,000 square-foot addition, renovation of the existing courthouse, a new exterior plaza for city events, and refeeding electrical and domestic water services to the historic courthouse. The building offers 12 courtrooms, jury assembly/selection areas, attorney/client meeting spaces, multiple security queuing aisles, and other amenities.

 

Mechanically, two new air handling units were designed, along with a chiller plant utilizing cooling towers, radiant flooring, and a cross connection chilled water loop. The chilled water loop connects the chilled water systems in the new and renovated buildings with the existing jail housing and administration building across the street. Radiant floor heating helped solve some spatial limitations on equipment, along with providing an energy efficient heating source. An emphasis on aesthetics was taken, which posed some challenges when routing mechanical systems through the building.

 

Electrical design included emergency power requirements via a natural-gas-powered indoor generator. A central UPS unit was designed to provide uninterruptible power to all telecom equipment throughout the building.

 

The lighting system was carefully designed to meet the owner’s requirements for the building to be an attractive downtown element in the evening. This was achieved by providing tunable-white lighting fixtures, which provide various ambiances. Overall, the lighting design significantly exceeded energy code requirements.

 

A complete telecommunications structured cabling system was designed. A new addressable voice fire alarm system, rough-in and power coordination for security and access control systems, and a lightning protection system were also created.

 

The project was designed utilizing Revit modeling software. This allowed for extensive coordination and planning of all the building elements between the architect, consultants, and construction manager.