Calif. Architectural Firm Wins AOC Courthouse Project
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Moore Ruble Yudell has been selected to design the new Santa Barbara Criminal Courthouse, the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) announced yesterday.
The new 8-courtroom, 97,000-square-foot courthouse will consolidate criminal and traffic court operations from three separate buildings. It is currently in the site selection process.
The courthouse will take on criminal proceedings, which the Anacapa courthouse currently handles, and replace the overcrowding and security-deficient Figueroa courthouse and Jury Services building.
The project was ranked as an “immediate need” in the judicial branch’s capital-outlay plan, placing it in the highest-priority category for judicial branch building projects.
Design work on the project cannot begin until a site is selected and the State Public Works Board approves the acquisition. Site selection and acquisition is expected to take a year or more.
The courthouse is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.
Presiding Judge Brian Hill and court executive officer Gary Blair of the Superior Court of Santa Barbara County helped interview architectural firms.
“We are very pleased with the selection of Moore Ruble Yudell, which is based in nearby Santa Monica,” Judge Hill told reporters. “We believe that this firm has done outstanding work on numerous projects, including the new Federal Courthouse in Fresno. We are confident that they will be especially sensitive to the needs and architectural heritage of our beautiful Santa Barbara community, which is well-known throughout California and our nation,” he said.
Moore Ruble Yudell is also designing the new Santa Clarita Courthouse in Los Angeles for the AOC.
The new Santa Barbara Criminal courthouse is among 41 high-priority court projects funded by Senate Bill 1407, which finances critically needed courthouse construction, renovation and repair through judicial branch fees, penalties, and assessments.
SB 1407 aims to create employment in California communities as the courthouse projects are completed over the next five years.