PA600 Denver Justice Center: Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse and Van Cise-Simonet Detention Center Tours

Following presentations of the Denver detention center and court complex, guided tours will be provided, followed by a 60-minute workshop sponsored by the AIA Academy of Architecture for Justice (AAJ) Sustainable Justice Committee. The Denver Justice Center Plaza and building tours will be guided by representatives of the designers as well as the facility users who have been living in these buildings for the past couple of years and were integral to the successful planning, design, and construction processes. The tours will start at the public plaza, proceed to the detention center, and conclude at the court building.

The new Denver Justice Center is conceived as an extension of the Civic Center that includes the historic State Capitol, the City/County Building, and the U.S. Mint. The guided tour will begin with exploration of the plaza, which joins the two facilities with a comfortable public space that provides a connecting element for pedestrians’ approach to the buildings.

The Van Cise-Simonet Detention Center in downtown Denver is the new 1,500-bed detention center that extends the civic core including the historic State Capitol, the City/County Building, and the U.S. Mint. The new building, together with the new courthouse, enhances the civic district by shaping a new public plaza with a classic civic design that celebrates public architecture. The new 439,000-sqare-foot facility is designed to speed time from arrest to arraignment. It includes central booking for the entire Denver Police Department, two new arraignment courtrooms that operate virtually around the clock to process new arrestees, and a variety of housing units specially designed to accommodate the characteristics of the short-term pretrial population. The design partnership included Hartman-Cox, Ricci Greene Associates, VRJS, and Oz Architecture.

The new 317,000-square-foot Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse is the anchor of the new Justice Center, with capacity for 35 courtrooms; support spaces; holding areas; and staff areas for county, district and juvenile courts. The tour will take you through the primary entry and lobby areas and the main circulation arteries organized along the east side of the building, facing the public plaza, which provide waiting and gathering areas for courtroom activities as well as the courtrooms and supporting functions. The design approach maximizes cost and functional efficiency by organizing the building with eight courtrooms per floor, paired around holding cells and a secure elevator. The building is a collaborative design between Klipp Architects and RicciGreene Associates. The Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse recently received an Honor Award from AIA Denver and a Citation Award from the AIA Colorado.

The AAJ Sustainable Justice Committee—which promotes sustainable principles for the unique nature of jails, prisons, courthouses, and law enforcement facilities—will present the workshop following the tours. In 2010, the Committee published "Sustainable Justice 2030: Green Guide to Justice" as a white paper to explain the application of sustainability to these public projects, which should continue to be viable within our society. After the white paper release, the Committee began to explore the development of a custom methodology or scoring system independent of the USGBC LEED process to specifically evaluate justice facilities within the context of sustainable justice principles. The developed rating system does not compete with the LEED scoring system. Rather, it is complementary and uniquely expands the definition of leadership for sustainable environments, communities, and society at-large. The rating system is based on four scales: The Societal Scale, The Community Scale, The Facility Scale, and The Human Scale.

The workshop will introduce this rating system developed for detention and corrections facilities, courts, and law enforcement facilities in a panel and discussion format that will follow up on the buildings just toured as case studies for implementation of sustainable justice principles.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify the principles of planning and design for buildings that must balance security with openness and public accommodation.
2. Recognize the potential for high-performance sustainable design within strict urban design guidelines, tight budgets, and strong functional requirements.
3. Observe the dialogue between extensive urban design guidelines and architectural expression.
4. Describe the importance of clear, simple planning diagrams for large buildings with complex programs.

Provider: AIA Academy of Architecture for Justice