Kris
July 30th, 2003, 05:10 PM
September 6, 2001
The Bronx Criminal Court Complex
The new Bronx Criminal Court Complex designed by joint venture team Rafael Vinoly Architects / DMJM Architects and Engineers broke ground on August 14th.
The Bronx Criminal Court Complex, through its form and transparency, will redefine the relationship of the courthouse with the surrounding community. Glass is used to convey a sense of openness that stands in sharp contrast to traditional courthouse design. The linear layout of the building wraps around a large central open public space, which contributes to the urban landscape of the neighborhood. In the middle of the complex, a freestanding low volume will serve as the Jury Assembly Hall, the symbolic and spatial center for the complex. Inside the court complex, public functions are located adjacent to the central open space, which provides a visual reference point to orient visitors. A series of glass and steel stairs animates the plaza side of the complex with visible pedestrian activity.
The principal façade on 161st Street will be a glass and aluminum curtain wall composed of varying degrees of translucency. The folded three-dimensional configuration of the curtain wall and the use of high-performance ceramic-fritted glass maximize natural daylight while maintaining environmental comfort and visual privacy for users. On the interior of the block, the use of transparent glass maximizes the connection between the building interior and the central open space. Throughout the complex, the design brings natural indirect daylight into interior spaces including the courtrooms, jury deliberation rooms, justice chambers, and the public and private circulation spaces. Together, the innovative exterior wall system, state of the art lighting and mechanical systems contribute to a high-performance energy efficient building.
www.designarchitecture.com
Rendering Exterior
http://www.rvapc.com/Authoring/Images/Projects/619/619_tmp3F.jpg
Rendering Exterior Night
http://www.rvapc.com/Authoring/Images/Projects/619/619_tmp40.jpg
Elevation
http://www.rvapc.com/Authoring/Images/Projects/619/619_tmp3A.jpg
Model
http://www.rvapc.com/Authoring/Images/Projects/619/619_tmp3D.jpg
The program for the New Bronx Criminal Court Complex consists of 72 courtrooms for the Supreme and Criminal Court, space for the Department of Corrections, the New York Police Department, the Department of Probation, the Bronx District Attorney, contract agencies and parking facilities for four hundred cars. It also incorporates retail space and a children’s day care facility that will serve the immediate neighboring community.
The new court complex is located on a three-block site on East 161st Street near Grand Concourse Boulevard. The new court facilities will work with the existing supreme, criminal, and family courts located near the site to create a Municipal Center as envisioned by Department of City Planning. The project’s goal is to integrate the 111.500 square meter court complex within the immediate context of low- and mid-rise residential buildings to the north, elementary and high school structures to the east, and retail and commercial activity along 161st Street. This is achieved by massing the building along the perimeter of the site – primarily on 161st Street – and creating an open civic space behind it to act as a transition between the Criminal Court and its residential neighbors.
The civic plaza covers an underground parking structure and contains the Jury Assembly Hall, which will be available for use by community groups during the court’s off hours. The court’s public circulation is distributed along the inside perimeter of the L-shaped plan overlooking the plaza. It is augmented by a series of stairs, platforms and ramps that connect the various levels of the complex to create a functional multi-level public concourse and reduce demand on the elevator cores. The restricted access circulation for the judges’ chambers and court staff is located in corridors along the 161st Street façade.
The facility’s main entrance is located on 161st Street between Sherman and Grant Avenues. It is flanked by retail components on the ground floor and frames a view of the landscaped civic plaza, which it connects to 161st Street. Delivery of prisoners, access to the New York Police Department central booking police station and freight access are concentrated along Sherman Avenue, where the similar functions of another court building across the avenue are also located. This consolidation helps to mitigate the impact of these functions on the adjacent residential neighborhood.
The environmental concerns of the building have been addressed through a building-wide “green” approach. Energy conservation is realized with extensive daylighting, energy efficient supplemental lighting, and the advanced design of heating and air conditioning systems. Every floor of the folded glass exterior wall that encloses the L-shaped plan is composed of three horizontal courses of glass that are differentiated by their transparency: lowest on the bottom and highest on the top. The wall is designed to maximize light penetration into the building through the use of reflecting and shading devices within the angles of the folded façade and a system of reflective surfaces on the ceilings of each level, so that light is bounced progressively deeper into the plan.
http://www.rvapc.com/ht/HTProject.aspx?Base=Projects&projID=619
For the new Bronx Courthouse, Rafael Vinoly Architects has proposed floor-to-ceiling exterior glass walls – 100% laminated for security – that look like a stretched-out accordion from the outside and have inherent 3D qualities.
One purely modern answer is the proposed Bronx Criminal Courthouse on East 161st Street, New York, designed by Rafael Vinoly Architects. Rafael Vinoly has said that his primary design goal is to communicate a sense of permeability while including floor-to-ceiling, exterior glass walls. "We wanted a transparent building," said Jay Bargmann, vice president of the Vinoly firm, "but it had to have some sense of solidity and monumentality."
The architects had to find a glass façade that met the client's requirements in terms of energy-efficiency, security and heat gain and loss. The corrugated metal they are considering laminating into the glass will mean that people inside the building are reassured by seeing the metal but can, at the same time, feel the natural daylight behind.
Rafael Vinoly Architects has taken an innovative approach by having a large, two-story courtroom surrounded by lower-volume buildings, such as judges' chambers, which are one story lower so there is actually a lot of natural daylight flooding into the courtroom. "It won't feel as if you're going into the dungeons of the criminal justice system," said Luis M. Tormenta, commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction in the Bronx.
http://www.dupont.com/safetyglass/lgn/stories/1309.html
The Bronx Criminal Court Complex
The new Bronx Criminal Court Complex designed by joint venture team Rafael Vinoly Architects / DMJM Architects and Engineers broke ground on August 14th.
The Bronx Criminal Court Complex, through its form and transparency, will redefine the relationship of the courthouse with the surrounding community. Glass is used to convey a sense of openness that stands in sharp contrast to traditional courthouse design. The linear layout of the building wraps around a large central open public space, which contributes to the urban landscape of the neighborhood. In the middle of the complex, a freestanding low volume will serve as the Jury Assembly Hall, the symbolic and spatial center for the complex. Inside the court complex, public functions are located adjacent to the central open space, which provides a visual reference point to orient visitors. A series of glass and steel stairs animates the plaza side of the complex with visible pedestrian activity.
The principal façade on 161st Street will be a glass and aluminum curtain wall composed of varying degrees of translucency. The folded three-dimensional configuration of the curtain wall and the use of high-performance ceramic-fritted glass maximize natural daylight while maintaining environmental comfort and visual privacy for users. On the interior of the block, the use of transparent glass maximizes the connection between the building interior and the central open space. Throughout the complex, the design brings natural indirect daylight into interior spaces including the courtrooms, jury deliberation rooms, justice chambers, and the public and private circulation spaces. Together, the innovative exterior wall system, state of the art lighting and mechanical systems contribute to a high-performance energy efficient building.
www.designarchitecture.com
Rendering Exterior
http://www.rvapc.com/Authoring/Images/Projects/619/619_tmp3F.jpg
Rendering Exterior Night
http://www.rvapc.com/Authoring/Images/Projects/619/619_tmp40.jpg
Elevation
http://www.rvapc.com/Authoring/Images/Projects/619/619_tmp3A.jpg
Model
http://www.rvapc.com/Authoring/Images/Projects/619/619_tmp3D.jpg
The program for the New Bronx Criminal Court Complex consists of 72 courtrooms for the Supreme and Criminal Court, space for the Department of Corrections, the New York Police Department, the Department of Probation, the Bronx District Attorney, contract agencies and parking facilities for four hundred cars. It also incorporates retail space and a children’s day care facility that will serve the immediate neighboring community.
The new court complex is located on a three-block site on East 161st Street near Grand Concourse Boulevard. The new court facilities will work with the existing supreme, criminal, and family courts located near the site to create a Municipal Center as envisioned by Department of City Planning. The project’s goal is to integrate the 111.500 square meter court complex within the immediate context of low- and mid-rise residential buildings to the north, elementary and high school structures to the east, and retail and commercial activity along 161st Street. This is achieved by massing the building along the perimeter of the site – primarily on 161st Street – and creating an open civic space behind it to act as a transition between the Criminal Court and its residential neighbors.
The civic plaza covers an underground parking structure and contains the Jury Assembly Hall, which will be available for use by community groups during the court’s off hours. The court’s public circulation is distributed along the inside perimeter of the L-shaped plan overlooking the plaza. It is augmented by a series of stairs, platforms and ramps that connect the various levels of the complex to create a functional multi-level public concourse and reduce demand on the elevator cores. The restricted access circulation for the judges’ chambers and court staff is located in corridors along the 161st Street façade.
The facility’s main entrance is located on 161st Street between Sherman and Grant Avenues. It is flanked by retail components on the ground floor and frames a view of the landscaped civic plaza, which it connects to 161st Street. Delivery of prisoners, access to the New York Police Department central booking police station and freight access are concentrated along Sherman Avenue, where the similar functions of another court building across the avenue are also located. This consolidation helps to mitigate the impact of these functions on the adjacent residential neighborhood.
The environmental concerns of the building have been addressed through a building-wide “green” approach. Energy conservation is realized with extensive daylighting, energy efficient supplemental lighting, and the advanced design of heating and air conditioning systems. Every floor of the folded glass exterior wall that encloses the L-shaped plan is composed of three horizontal courses of glass that are differentiated by their transparency: lowest on the bottom and highest on the top. The wall is designed to maximize light penetration into the building through the use of reflecting and shading devices within the angles of the folded façade and a system of reflective surfaces on the ceilings of each level, so that light is bounced progressively deeper into the plan.
http://www.rvapc.com/ht/HTProject.aspx?Base=Projects&projID=619
For the new Bronx Courthouse, Rafael Vinoly Architects has proposed floor-to-ceiling exterior glass walls – 100% laminated for security – that look like a stretched-out accordion from the outside and have inherent 3D qualities.
One purely modern answer is the proposed Bronx Criminal Courthouse on East 161st Street, New York, designed by Rafael Vinoly Architects. Rafael Vinoly has said that his primary design goal is to communicate a sense of permeability while including floor-to-ceiling, exterior glass walls. "We wanted a transparent building," said Jay Bargmann, vice president of the Vinoly firm, "but it had to have some sense of solidity and monumentality."
The architects had to find a glass façade that met the client's requirements in terms of energy-efficiency, security and heat gain and loss. The corrugated metal they are considering laminating into the glass will mean that people inside the building are reassured by seeing the metal but can, at the same time, feel the natural daylight behind.
Rafael Vinoly Architects has taken an innovative approach by having a large, two-story courtroom surrounded by lower-volume buildings, such as judges' chambers, which are one story lower so there is actually a lot of natural daylight flooding into the courtroom. "It won't feel as if you're going into the dungeons of the criminal justice system," said Luis M. Tormenta, commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction in the Bronx.
http://www.dupont.com/safetyglass/lgn/stories/1309.html