Alachua County Criminal
Courts
Building
Owner/Client:
Alachua County
Location: Gainesville,
FL
Completion Date:
August 2003
Project Size:
120,000 gross square
feet
Project Cost:
$ 18,319,000
Since the first
courthouse was built 25 years ago, the population of
Alachua County increased by more than 50 percent. As a
result a new four-story contemporary structure was
built on a six-block site in Gainesville. The building
solves a number of problems including space
constraints and security concerns at the old facility,
which was not equipped to handle the rising number of
criminal defendants.
The courthouse, which is
the first phase of a court complex, includes ten
criminal courtrooms, one courtroom wired to the jail
for video hearings, and ten judicial office suites
with accompanying support space and heighten security.
In addition, the building provides five civil and
family courtrooms, five large-volume hearing rooms,
and eleven family and civil court judicial office
suites. Holding cells for defendants were incorporated
into the design to minimize interaction with
outsiders, providing a more secure judicial
environment.
The Alachua County Courthouse is the first local
government building to have LEED certification, the
first county courthouse in the United States to have
LEED certification, and the first courthouse in the
State of Florida to have LEED certification.
This building won awards
in 2004 for the Best Public Building (from Southeast
Construction) and Governmental Building Award of Honor
(from the AIA).
