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Best of 2006 Awards
Bronx County Hall of Justice
BEST OF 2006: Public Works and Facilities
When designs for the $396 million Bronx County Hall of Justice were being drafted, the project team didn’t want it to look like a run-of-the-mill public facility. It wanted a building that stood out for its appearance as well as its function in society, goals that the Best of 2006 Awards jury believed were met.
“They really went out on a limb as a public agency to try to put good architecture out there,” said one juror.
The project involved construction of the 10-story, 775,000-sq.-ft. courthouse on a 2.5-block site adjacent to the existing criminal courthouse on 161st Street near the Grand Concourse, the borough’s central thoroughfare. Work on the complex began in August 2001 and finished in October.
The first two floors above grade contain public services, including the jury assembly building, and the third through sixth floors contain 47 courtrooms of the Bronx County Supreme Court, which is New York’s trial court. The seventh floor contains seven grand jury hearing rooms, and the eighth and ninth floors house district attorney offices and judges’ chambers.
The building also has two floors below grade and a courtyard that stands over a two-level underground parking garage with 240 spaces.
The design aims to integrate the court complex in the existing community of low and mid-rise residential buildings to the north, elementary and high school structures to the east, and retail and institutional buildings along 161st Street. The design masses the building along the institutional and commercial sides of the site, allowing for the creation of the courtyard on the other side that acts as a transition between the court complex and its residential and scholastic neighbors.
The main public entrance is located on 161st Street, with access for incarcerated individuals and freight on an adjacent street away from the residential areas. Among the major construction tasks was excavation of 120,000 cu. yd. of subsurface material, including the removal of contaminated soils, in order to build the poured-in-place concrete foundation. The building has a steel superstructure with concrete floors on metal decks.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the team also modified the structural steel design by increasing the size of the steel members, which in turn led to the use of 20-ft. cantilevers on much of the building’s column-free perimeters.
Consistent with a design team objective of creating transparency, the entire building envelope facing 161st Street is made of a corrugated glass and aluminum curtain wall system, which lets natural light reach deep into the courtrooms. Another space that maximizes use of daylight is the jury assembly building, which acts as a stand-alone, 40-ft.-high pavilion in the court complex.
“It’s a great building, especially for a public agency,” said a judge.
The courtyard-facing elevations are connected by a monumental staircase that faces north and east. The staircase – hung from tube steel between the cantilevered courtroom floors and the exterior glass wall – connects above-grade courtroom levels with public convenience stairs.
The construction effort involved 18 contractors onsite because the project team wanted to split the work into smaller bids and increase the chance of competitive pricing. The effort took place under a project labor agreement.
“A $300 million job with 18 contractors – that’s a lot of coordination,” one judge said.
Key Players
Owner: City of New York
Program Manager: Dormitory Authority of the State of New York
Construction Manager: Bovis Lend Lease
General Contractor-Core and Shell: Stonewall Contracting
Architect: Rafael Viñoly Architects; DMJM Architects
Structural Engineer: Ysrael A. Seinuk PC
Civil Engineer: Leonard J. Strandberg & Associates
Mechanical-Electrical Engineer: Flack + Kurtz
Geotechnical Engineer: Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers
Excavation-Foundation Contractor: A. Williams Construction
Steel Contractor: SMI Owen Steel
Concrete Contractor: J&A Concrete
Curtain Wall Contractor: Enclos |
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