Downtown Criminal Court Distinguishes Gainesville

ORLANDO, Fla. – The new Alachua County Courthouse was recently recognized as the “2004 Best Public Building” by Southeast Construction magazine. Designed by DLR Group, the structure’s design succeeds through its dignity as a courthouse as well as the addition it makes to Gainesville's downtown fabric.

A primary goal was to clearly distinguish the courthouse from other civic or corporate structures. Designers say the new building embraces the new town planning concepts that Gainesville wanted, which is the re-creation of a traditional American town with lower-scale buildings at the street edge with a great deal of emphasis on pedestrian accessibility.

The office wing is only three stories and where the building engages the street, is only two- to three-stories high. The building was sited and designed to enhance the city's government office building profile as well as its user friendliness. Floor plan layouts take on a unique, asymmetrical Z-shaped plan, so that when future phases are added, the courthouse becomes a more balanced, completed building.

Incorporated in the four-story courthouse building are 10 courtrooms, a small video arraignment courtroom and 12 judges' chambers. The high volume courts are located on the first floor on each side of a central holding area, allowing movement of large volumes of in-custody individuals into these courtrooms for case management and arraignment cases.

Designed to embody many sustainable design features, Alachua County Courthouse is expected to qualify as a LEED green-building certified structure. “Alachua County is a very green, progressive community and it does meet five years ahead of schedule the county requirements to reduce energy consumption by 40 percent in all their buildings,” says architect Manny Suarez, AIA. Also key were issues such as like security, courtroom layouts, circulation zones, exterior finishes, and new town planning.

DLR Group provided prime, lead design and courts planning. Rink Reynolds Diamond Fisher of Jacksonville, Florida was the associate architect. PPI Construction Management of Gainesville was the contractor.