New Supreme Court Building • Singapore

The New Supreme Court Building is a nine-story building organized to reflect the hierarchies of the judicial system. The building’s architectural vocabulary and the design of its public spaces are intended to convey qualities representative of Singapore’s legal system as well as the image of dignity, history, judicial symbolism, transparency, accessibility, and the enforcement of justice.

Formally, it is articulated as a series of identifiable blocks cut through with public arcades and passageways, knitting the building into the surrounding city fabric. The civil and criminal courts are located on the lower floors. The Court of Appeal, Singapore’s highest court, is symbolically raised above the other courtrooms. It occupies a disclike form at the top of the building incorporating a public viewing platform that offers a dramatic panorama across the city. A central atrium forms the processional circulation route through the building and brings daylight down through all the public spaces.

The building accommodates 12 civil courts, eight criminal courts, three appellate courts, and accompanying suites of ancillary facilities. Each courtroom is located within a court block that also contains a hearing chamber, a court conference room, and two witness rooms which serve as holding areas for witnesses. A vulnerable witness room is located at level one to allow vulnerable witnesses to testify through video camera without having to appear in the open court.

In addition to the court blocks, eight registrars’ chambers, where a host of pre- and post-trial applications are heard, have been clustered on level two. The registrars’ chambers are flanked by the Legal Registry, a one-stop service area for all administrative matters pertaining to legal documentation and submissions. The building façade employs a palette of high-quality materials with translucent laminated stoneglass; it appears solid but allows light to filter through by day and emits a warm glow by night. A range of passive climate-control devices, including shading to the east and west facades to protect the office spaces from direct sunlight, are incorporated. Roof gardens for the office blocks are also designed at podium level keeping with Singapore’s garden city philosophy. The roofs are planted with trees to create a continuous blanket of greenery to create a public promenade.

oWner

Government of Republic of Singapore

architect of record

Foster + Partners Hong Cong CPG Consultants, Pte. Ltd. Singapore

landscape architect

Tierra Design

Civil / structural / mechanical engineer

CPG Consultants, Pte. Ltd. Singapore

General Contractor

IRE Sato Kogyo Joint Venture Completion date: 2005 Construction Cost: $ 208.0 million (Singapore Dollars) number of Courtrooms: 23

Type of Court: Criminal, Civil

Building area:

58,103 square meters (625,415 square feet) Finance method: Government Funded

delivery method: Unknown Type of Construction: New leed Certificate: Designed to LEED but not submitted