Muncie Consolidated Courts Complex
Project Description
21ST CENTURY CONSOLIDATED COURTS COMPLEX FOR MUNCIE, INDIANA - 8 week project
As Muncie continues to focus on reconstructing and updating its downtown to the 21st century, there is one area that needs to be especially addressed - the Muncie Circuit Courts and Jail building. At the heart of downtown Muncie, the Delaware County Circuit Courts building, courts administration building and City Hall are on a 3 block plot of land that need some serious upgrades in order to bring their facilities into the 21st century but also to help protect the increasing amount of people that are being incarcerated at the jail. In order to update the facilities, I worked with a colleague of my and Judge Tom Cannon, one of the Muncie Circuit Court judges, on developing a grasp of what the city of Muncie needs in a new facility that would combine all of the city courts, city records and court administration into one building, and place a new jail and City Hall on the current 3 block plot of land that resides there today. Between my colleague and I, we met with the Judge and other members of the County Circuit Court and Jail to walk through the facility and took a field trip to the old and new Noblesville courts buildings. We also began to develop a knowledge of what programs are used in other facilities around the country and globe. From here I developed my own program for the new 21st Century Consolidated Courts Complex for Muncie. The idea behind my design is that the courts are a hub in downtown Muncie, and really need to have a prominent design that integrates modern building technology and materials, while also making a nod to the rich history of Indiana limestone and the historic City courts buildings littered all over the state. I also aimed to design a facility that held state of the art technology, had a functional floor plan, provided safety for the public and the workers in the building, and having a strong focus on environmental design. In order to accomplish these 5 goals I started by understanding how the floor plan was designed. I place two courts per floor, with there being a total of 4 floors. The 8 courts include 5 Circuit Courts, 2 City Courts and 1 juvenile court. On each of these floors, each floor is symmetrical - with the clerks office for each court on the adjacent corridor. Behind the central courts room is the Judges' chambers, meeting rooms, and a large atrium for the employees to gather. The atrium at the front of the building allows for the public to travel throughout the building and also gather as well. In order to allow access for the prisoners, there is a tunnel that would connect the jail to the underground transfer tunnel, where the prisoners would then move vertically through an elevator and then directly to a holding cell on the desired floor. This division allows for safety of the inmates, police officers, workers, and the public. In order to design for the historic context, the bottom two floors are cladded with Indiana limestone. The top two levels are clad with a metal paneling system. The 5th level of the building is entirely shell space that allows for the building to accept future expansion, while saving the city costs for any future construction. The area above the 5th floor is designed to be planned for future expansion, keeping the building in the 22nd century. The integration of environmental design is the last component of the design. The building apertures have light shelves integrated that allows the sun's rays to be blocked during the harshest times of the day and the rays to be accepted during the cooling stage of the day. This passive system allows heating and cooling costs to be decreased. Through the use of Sefaira energy modeling and a system of Photovoltaic panels integrated on the roof, the building runs on average a total of 6 Kwh of energy per square foot per year. This value of 6 is under the 2030 challenge standard of 29 Kwh/sq ft/yr. The building energy design can be pushed further to reach net-zero.
