New Courthouse

[richyb83]

I have not heard of any demolition plans for the old Municipal bldg; a while back heard them actually give the possibility of adding a few floors on top; which I have no idea how they would pull that off?? But no new info since....and wondering what will become of the old EBRATS bldg(bottom right-aerial)??

*from Third Street

*the new Courthouse will have more impact on the skyline than I first thought!! And the new II City Plaza(right) wedged between City Plaza & south Chase Tower

*the plain side(south)

[dan326]

Wow! Everytime I see it I'm amazed at how fast it is going up! We've definitely developed a world-class local government campus down here.

[richyb83]

[southeastBR]

Man, they're really going fast on that facade install! It will really be nice when they finish!

[dan326]

Wow again! It kind of looks like a newer version of the Chase tower facade.

[cajun]

Yeah, I do kinda wish the south side looked better. That's the side facing the interstate.

[richyb83]

Yeah the south elevation is plain! Can't wait to see the completed north elevation; it's going to be really nice; esp. at NIGHT! It's going to illuminate much like the Shaw Center for the Arts(Latern on the Levee) does! Those two buildings may have the BEST "lighting at night" downtown; along with the State Capitol & Gateway state buildings... Curious to see how II City Plaza will turn out at night too??

^This is why southeastBR had to start the One American Place opinion on lighting thread...because it lacks; when these other buildings will do a better job with exterior lighting. BR's skyline had been too dark in the past; the State Capitol began making more & more improvements; the Gateway bldgs added more! The new Shaw Center for the Arts seemed to dramatically changed the lighting; since then; it's now becoming a trend.

Shaw Plaza on Essen looks great at night too!

The new Courthouse towering behind the historic City Club.

[all2neat]

Shaw on Essen in my opinion does one of the best lighting jobs in the city.

[southeastBR]

I agree! Wampold's has to do it big on ll City Plaza,he just has to. I hope its has multi-colored lighting like Shaw!

[richyb83]

[richyb83]

Despite all the drawbacks(unexpected underground fiber-optic cable relocation, Gustav,etc) the new Courthouse is now ahead of schedule! Parking is gonna have to be addressed! Wonder what the "penthouse" is all about on the 12th floor??

Half-complete, on time...New courthouse under budget

The 12-story building is 45 percent to 50 percent finished and on pace to beat the contract completion date of Sept. 1, 2010. The 19th Judicial District judges approved an $88.7 million bid in May 2007 by Walton Construction to erect the first 11 stories of the courthouse. The state Legislature later allocated an additional $6 million in capital outlay funds to cover the cost of the 12th story.

[nquint1]

They started putting in the glass on the front of the courthouse. It looks good

[richyb83]

Thanks for the head's up

Had a minute to ride by...looking good on the north-side of the new courthouse! This has been discribed as a "beacon" for the way it will illuminate thru the glass

[dan326]

It's really coming along. I can't wait to see what it looks like all lit up at night!

[buckett5425]

So I am about to step up onto the soap box here for a minute, so bear with me here....

Personally, I think Post Architects have created a very interesting design for the new courthouse. I really love the concept they have designed for the north face of the building and i think it looks great! But, I really have no idea what it going on the with rest of the courthouse facade. I'm okay with south side being plain, that isn't my complaint at all. Yet, they have left the HVAC equipment exposed on the southwest corner of the roof, and it looks absolutely terrible. There were plenty of clever places to hide the huge equipment, but I suppose they chose not to take that route. They have until September of 2010 to either paint the equipment tan, or put a covering around it, or else i think i might just have to kill myself.(there is nothing i hate more then seeing mech. equip. on roof tops) Secondly, the "beacon," the class curtain wall, was poorly thought out. It looks great on the north side, and they brought the curtain wall around to wrap the west side of the beacon that is exposed on the top floor. But, even though they brought the shade awning around the entire top of the beacon, they didn't bring the glass curtain wall, so it look ridiculous! I see no reason why they couldn't have, and it would have given the east and south sides some visual interest.

Here, are some conceptual renderings of what i wish Post Architects would have designed. Ill give them the benefit of the doubt that there were legitimate reasons for their decisions, but I am still slightly disappointed.

Proposed-notice how the glass curtain wall wraps around the east facade.

Proposed-the "beacon" has glass on all four sides.

Here is what is exisiting....

[richyb83]

Good idea buckett5425! That's a cool redesign! Thanks for sharing your imput/ideas Were they trying to cut co$t?? Wonder what exactly will go on the top floor?? No way the HVAC equipment should be exposed; hopefully they will take care of that!

[dan326]

I see what you mean about the glass wall. That is kind of strange that they wouldn't bring it all the way around.

[buckett5425]

I was at work Monday morning when i looked out of the window and saw them attaching the flag pole to the top of the courthouse. Thought i would snap a quick pic so yall could judge the progress!

[richyb83]

Lookin' good! The flag-pole will put it above 200ft'....ha The new Courthouse is massive! You can actually see it from Stanford Ave/BR Beach at University Lake! The glass side facing Fourth Street is going to look nice at night!

[dan326]

That courthouse is coming along nicely, I need to go downtown to see it for myself.

[richyb83]

The glass facade coming together...

[buckett5425]

So last friday I had the pleasure of attending a tour of the new courthouse with AIA.

It was an interesting tour. Skipper Post, the architect, never gave time for questions, so I chose to keep my mouth shut. Im sure he would have assumed im some pretentious arrogant student, while i assume hes an ignorant out-dated old man. So I never got to find out what they plan on doing with the Water Chiller on the roof. As a whole though, i left the tour hating the building more then liking it. Its a maze of poorly thought out corridors, with lots of wasted space.

Skipper said he wishes he would have thought about getting the building LEED certified because it had such an energy efficient HVAC system. Me and my buddies couldn't help but laugh when he said that. There is more to LEED certification then having an energy efficient HVAC system. The point of sustainable design is to design buildings in such a way where little to know HVAC is required. NOT to design a ridiculous office building, and put in energy efficient equipment, although it is better then nothing.

Another interesting thing Skipper said, was that the judges thought this new courthouse was ultra modern, and that he had to fight with them even to get this design, because the judges thought a courthouse should look like the state capitol, or LASM.

Here are a few pics from the tour.

-east side exterior

-the view from the 11th floor

-window detailing

-the 2 story lobby

-elevator shafts

-main entrance

[dan326]

It's definitely coming along. I like the blue glass, I think clear glass would have looked funny.

What an awesome opportunity, Buckett. (Sorry if you told your name, what is it again?) Haha, they thought that was "ultra modern"? Those judges are kind of goofy.

also I thought those were rail tracks for second in Buckett's 4th picture. I wa got excited I though we were getting a subway.

[all2neat]

Nice pictures.. Looks like they got a little ways to go on the inside yet.

[richyb83]

I remember bucketts name...just not the spelling Stephen or Steven...anyway thanks for sharing the photos of your cool tour!

Love the shot looking up Fourth Street! Even from the 11th floor; it's still taller than the 12-story II City Plaza! It would be nice to see some of those surface parking lots fil-up with some more high & mid-rises!

Typical BR like statement...everything needs to look the same...boring! "Ultra- modern"?? The glass facade does add alot! The shear size of the structure is what impresses me most! Really gives the skyline an added dimension when coming from the east on I-10!