Auburn, California, gets a new justice center

A 36-foot-high domed rotunda is the centerpiece and front door of Auburn, Calif.'s newly opened, $27 million justice center. Designed by San Francisco-based Beverly Prior Architects, with Allen L. Bender Inc. of West Sacramento, Calif., as the contractor, the 97,900-sf facility houses the county's police department, probation department, and district attorney's office. The building has two levels of security: once visitors pass through the rotunda, they enter a public lobby where transactions take place behind bulletproof glass. Beyond that, a second, more-secure lobby has open service counters to facilitate the police department's community policing program. Small high-tech interview rooms off the inner lobby enable deputies to speak to victims or suspects in a confidential environment. An open, two-story staff circulation spine allows for interactivity between the various divisions, and the spine's glass and translucent panel system provides a visual connection to the adjacent staff courtyard.