Ground broke today on the largest project that Montgomery County in Pennsylvania has undertaken to date: a 508,150-sf campus in the Philadelphia suburb of Norristown, Pa., that, when completed in 2026, will include the construction of the 330,000-sf, six-story Montgomery County Justice Center.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and Skanska are the design and construction partners on this $415 million project, which was approved last September by the Norristown Municipal Council. According to local reports, the existing courthouse was originally to be renovated at a budget of $281 million. And the more expensive construction contract had met with some political opposition.
Also see: A new county courthouse opens in Olathe, Kan.
But other municipal leaders see this bolder project as being transformative for the city and the community. “The Justice Center represents years of planning to design a state-of-the-art facility that will meet the County’s needs for the next century and make all justice-related services more accessible to our residents,” stated Dr. Valerie A. Arkoosh, Chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners.
Also see: Designs for federal courthouse in Alabama unveiled
CAN A COURTHOUSE REVIVE A TOWN?
SOM has designed the new Justice Center with new public spaces and access to the city's main thoroughfares.
The project has three components:
•The new Justice Center construction, which is targeting LEED Gold certification. That building, which will be attached to the existing courthouse, will have 18 courtrooms, offices, and public spaces. Its cladding is primarily fritted glass with a marble pattern, a nod to the building’s historic neighbor and a contemporary take on the Pennsylvania “King of Prussia” Blue Marble quarried in Montgomery County.
•The expansion of Hancock Square Park to 57,000 sf, from its current size of 23,000 sf. (The project’s landscape architect is GGN.) That expansion will feature native landscape plantings, and direct access to Norristown’s Main Street.
•The historic courthouse, which was built in 1856 and expanded in 1902 (its dome), 1930 (its annex), and 1970, will undergo a complete renovation, with attention paid to historic preservation and a full replacement of utility infrastructure. A new glazed atrium links the existing and new buildings, creating a bright and welcoming entrance to the complex while emphasizing both the rich past and promising future of Montgomery County.
NEW PUBLIC SPACES
This project will more than double the size of Hancock Square Park.
Collectively, the project’s sustainability features will realize a 26% energy use reduction over ASHRAE 90.1 2013, a 40% indoor water use reduction, and a 50% irrigation reduction, according to SOM. (Interface Engineering is this project’s engineer.)
Skanska Integrated Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of the giant general contractor, is the project’s Agency Construction Manager, and is overseeing its planning, design, and construction. SOM’s design of the Justice Center will create new public spaces and connections within the complex and the surrounding streets.
The Justice Center will “restore a county landmark, and introduce a bold new building that speaks to the county's bright future,” says SOM’s Design Partner Colin Koop. Both he and Skanska Vice President and Regional Director Christopher Anderson see this project as part of a downtown revitalization.
Related Stories
| Aug 26, 2013
What you missed last week: Architecture billings up again; record year for hotel renovations; nation's most expensive real estate markets
BD+C's roundup of the top construction market news for the week of August 18 includes the latest architecture billings index from AIA and a BOMA study on the nation's most and least expensive commercial real estate markets.
| Aug 22, 2013
Energy-efficient glazing technology [AIA Course]
This course discuses the latest technological advances in glazing, which make possible ever more efficient enclosures with ever greater glazed area.
| Aug 22, 2013
6 visionary strategies for local government projects
Civic projects in Boston, Las Vegas, Austin, and suburban Atlanta show that a ‘big vision’ can also be a spur to neighborhood revitalization. Here are six visionary strategies for local government projects.
| Aug 14, 2013
Green Building Report [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Building Design+Construction's rankings of the nation's largest green design and construction firms.
| Jul 29, 2013
2013 Giants 300 Report
The editors of Building Design+Construction magazine present the findings of the annual Giants 300 Report, which ranks the leading firms in the AEC industry.
| Jul 19, 2013
Reconstruction Sector Construction Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Structure Tone, DPR, Gilbane top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest reconstruction contractor and construction management firms in the U.S.
| Jul 19, 2013
Reconstruction Sector Engineering Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
URS, STV, Wiss Janney Elstner top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest reconstruction engineering and engineering/architecture firms in the U.S.
| Jul 19, 2013
Reconstruction Sector Architecture Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Stantec, HOK, HDR top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest reconstruction architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the U.S.
| Jul 19, 2013
Renovation, adaptive reuse stay strong, providing fertile ground for growth [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Increasingly, owners recognize that existing buildings represent a considerable resource in embodied energy, which can often be leveraged for lower front-end costs and a faster turnaround than new construction.
| Jul 19, 2013
Must see: 220 years of development on Capitol Hill in one snazzy 3D flyover video
The Architect of the Capitol this week released a dramatic video timeline of 220 years of building development on Capitol Hill.