Queens Family Court and City Agency Facility • Jamaica, New York

The Queens Family Court and City Agency Facility faces the historic Rufus King Park and the elevated Long Island Railroad completing the wall of residential and institutional buildings framing the park while maintaining an appropriate civic presence. The building has two entrances leading to a common lobby and security screening checkpoint. Two spacious waiting rooms on the ground level serve court intake functions and the Assignment Court; a child drop-off center, security rooms, and various offices are located nearby. The courthouse includes 17 courts layered on nearly identical second, third, and fourth floors; half of the courtrooms are on the perimeter of the building and lit by large windows. The fifth floor is reserved for a collegial suite of judges’ chambers and court attorney offices, the offices of the Clerk of Court, adoptions, and the parts office. The basement houses reserved judges’ parking, holding cells, detainee elevators serving the courtrooms, a central records room, and mechanical spaces.

The Family Court is notable for both the number of daily visitors and the stressful nature of the proceedings. Clarity of circulation and the quality of the waiting spaces outside the courtrooms are paramount. Vertical circulation via escalators are located in a central sky-lit five-story atrium that brings light into the buildinging’s central circulation zone and contains a major art installation. The waiting areas on each floor overlook the park to the north and have distant views to the south offering the public a calm and uplifting environment. In its transparency, the building presents its inner life to the larger community. The courtrooms are unpretentious in scale with large windows providing ample natural light.

This project’s attention to light and views responds to one of the main challenges of designing a family court: providing a friendly, sunny waiting environment is a counterpoint to the stressful experience inherent to family court cases.

oWner

City of New York Department of Citywide Administrative Services New York, New York

architect of record

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects, LLP New York, New York

associate architect

Gruzen Samton Architects, LLP New York, New York

landscape architect

Mathews Nielsen, P.C. New York, New York

Civil engineer

Munoz Engineering New York, New York

structural engineer

WSP Cantor Seinuk New York, New York Cosentini Associates Chicago, Illinois

acoustical Consultant

Cerami & Associates, Inc. New York, New York

General Contractor

LA Wenger Contracting W. Babylon, New York

photographer

Jeff Goldberg / Esto Photographics, Inc. Mamaroneck, New York Completion date: 2003 number of Courtrooms: 16 Courtrooms, 1 Assignment Room, 8 Hearing Rooms Construction Cost: $59.3 million

Type of Court: Domestic, Juvenile, Family

Building area:

300,000 BGSF; 213,000 NAA Finance method: Dormitory Authority, State of New York / Bond delivery method: Single Prime Contract, New York State Prime Contractor w/ Construction Manager Type of Construction: New leed Certificate: Certified