Clark County Regional Justice Center • Las Vegas, Nevada

CITATION Clark County regional Justice Center • las Vegas, nevada

Designed to consolidate scattered urban judicial services into one location, provide economic renewal to a blighted area of downtown, and serve as platform for virtual court services, the 19-story, 702,000-square-foot Clark County Regional Justice Center houses the District, Justice, Municipal, and State Supreme Courts.

The $185 million facility echoes the traditional courthouse by providing an elevated glazed entrance plaza projecting a strong identity to the street. This plaza anchors the west end of a four block legal corridor redeveloping a deteriorating area of city’s heart. A three-story glass atrium draws daylight deep into the heart of the building; a canyon-like area with native sandstone walls inscribed with quotations reflects the universal concept of justice.

Keeping with modern courthouse design principles, the Regional Justice Center is served by three circulation systems separating public, staff, and inmate zones. Security is an integral part of the courthouse design. To project an open image of the courts, the building was designed to have a positive and welcoming presence while carefully and discretely integrating state-of-the-art security controls into the building.

Innovative court leadership had the vision to design the Justice Center’s utility entrance facilities and technology infrastructure to accommodate a virtual access to justice. Supported by vertically aligned technology rooms and an onsite server farm, wired and wireless network is scalable to 10 gigabytes. This integration of new facility, technology, and public access has provided exceptional remote access to justice. By moving information to individuals, the virtual court vision has created opportunities to provide justice anywhere, at anytime, while offering public service choices such as web/ phone payment, e-filing, interactive evidence presentation, creation of an electronic court case, and video arraignment/remote testimony.

Jury CommenT

The project represents excellence in design for a large and complicated program on a constrained urban site. In addition to being well organized and very functional, the jury found three elements of the courthouse to be particularly noteworthy: the use of natural lighting, the Wall of Justice, and the planning for future technology.

The extensive use of natural light and views from public areas to the outside are exceptional throughout. The level of stress in the building is reduced and the sense of openness, freedom of movement, and ease of access has a positive impact on visitors. The significant use of glass was viewed as a bold and successful design response considering the extreme summer temperatures in this desert location.

The Wall of Justice is a thoughtful and powerful reflection on the concept of justice from various cultures and times throughout the world. Quotations, engraved at various locations and heights, span the entire length of the stone atrium wall expressing the development of justice and the impact of cultures on the development of society as a whole. The Wall of Justice can be viewed from public circulation areas throughout the first three floors of the building serving as a constant reminder of the building’s purpose.

Jury members also recognized that the architect anticipated and planned for continued evolution of the courthouse as demonstrated by the attention and space given to future technologies. Original building infrastructure, including the technology platform, has enabled this facility to implement a self-help service center, web/phone payment, e-filing, interactive evidence presentation, electronic court case management and storage system, video arraignment, and in-courtroom remote testimony.

oWner

Clark County Las Vegas, Nevada

architect of record

Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects Henderson, Nevada

Court Consultant

HDR, Inc. Chicago, Illinois

Civil engineer

Poggemeyer Design Group Las Vegas, Nevada

structural engineer

Leslie E. Roberts & Associates New York, New York

mechanical | electrical engineer

JBA Consulting Engineers Las Vegas, Nevada

programming

Dan Wiley & Associates, Inc. Stuart, Florida

photographer

Alan Karchmer Photography Washington, DC

photographer

Tom Bonner Photography Santa Monica, California Completion date: 2005 Construction Cost: $ 135.0 million

number of Courtrooms: 42

Type of Court: Criminal, Civil, Drug, Traffic

Building area:

701,776 BGSF; 469,122 NAA Finance method: General Obligation Bonds, Court Fees delivery method: Single Prime Contract Type of Construction: New leed Certificate: None