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Austin United States Courthouse

Austin United States Courthouse

GSA Region 7 Greater Southwest
Fifth Judicial Circuit
Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects — 2012
Courtrooms
8
Chambers
10
Land Acreage
1.80 acres
Gross Area
224,098 sq ft
Rentable Area
165,974 sq ft
Usable Area
119,102 sq ft
Efficiency
61%
Number of floors
10 floors
Indoor Parking
65 spaces
Outdoor Parking
0 spaces
Courthouse image

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The Context

The Austin Federal Courthouse is located in downtown Austin, Texas, on a full city block directly west of Republic Square Park. The 1.8 acre site is also bounded by Nueces Street to the west, West 4th Street to the south, and West 5th Street to the north. There is a United States Post office to the north, government buildings further east, a state parking garage to the south, and the new Austin City Hall two blocks south. The Courthouse's connection to Republic Square Park, as well as its proximity to other civic buildings and downtown Austin in general, help to connect the Courthouse to its context. This connection was further strengthened by the closing of San Antonio Street that previously divided Republic Square Park, one of Austin original four parks, from the Courthouse site. The new vision of the site is further integration between the two blocks as a future "city plaza" of downtown Austin that retains its historic character.

The Courthouse includes U.S District Courts and U.S. Magistrate Courts. Designed by Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects, based in Atlanta, Georgia, and local Architects Paige Southerland Paige Architects, the design process began in 2003 and was completed in 2007. The Austin Federal Courthouse was completed in 2012, after three years of construction.

The Building

With seven stories and an approximately square floor plan configuration that responded to the site footprint, the overall formal gesture is of a cube. Where the basement emerges from the sloped terrain, a plinth holds the sidewalk edge and provides security features. The ground floor program is arranged around a public lobby space that varies from two to three stories in height as well as three terraced levels. The main lobby is strongly connected to Republic Square Park outside and also contains "The Austin Wall," a 28'x28' stained glass installation by Clifford Ross.

At level four, the midpoint of the Courthouse, the courtrooms are rotated and interlocked to allow for 16 foot ceiling heights for courtroom space. The courtrooms penetrate the floor directly above. Like courtrooms are stacked vertically, so that one magistrate courtroom and one district courtroom occupy each floor with a shared public space. A priority for the design was natural light, so all courtrooms, trial jury deliberation rooms, judges' chambers, and public lobby spaces have access to windows, light, and exterior views. Future expansions plans include one shell space what is outlined to be an additional District Courtroom, but will initially serve other tenant programs.

The seven story structure integrates between the scales of warehouses and towers surrounding the site, as well as to the pedestrian scale of the sidewalk and park. Internally, studies showed that the cubic form with two cores would be more efficient than a taller tower with a single core. The overall cubic form speaks to the strength, coherence, and dignity of the judicial system, as well as allows a compact, efficient, cost-effective organization.