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Design for Kalamazoo’s $90M justice facility revealed
KALAMAZOO, MI — The design plan for Kalamazoo County’s $90 million justice facility was inspired by open transparency with a nod to the architectural esteem of courthouses, architects told county commissioners.
Architectural firm TowerPinkster presented the schematics during the regular Tuesday, March 17 meeting.
The design development process is estimated to be completed in June which would put the project on schedule to start construction fall of 2020, owner’s representative Jerry VanderVeen said.
The five-story, 165,000-square-foot facility will be located next to the Kalamazoo County Administration Building along Kalamazoo Avenue.
The board voted on the estimated cost and the scope of the design last April 16, locking the project into a $90 million budget.
Starting on the top floor and going down will be the county’s circuit court, then the prosecutor’s office, then the district court. The ground floor will house services most used by the public, like jury assembly rooms and the court clerk’s office.
The south side of the building will have a glass exterior with an overhang to capitalize on natural light. A light well will also be installed down the middle of the building to allow natural light into the courtrooms, senior designer Tony Reiner said.
The overhang was the most effective and sustainable way to manage heat without tinting windows, Reiner said.
“We really wanted to utilize transparency to show the justice system,” he said. “It allows daylight to come in as well as give people that exposure to the courts and give that sense of accessibility to all.”
The building will be elevated for both symbolic reasons of “formal civic expression” and logistical reasons to avoid a high water table, Reiner said. Additionally, the building will be backed up off of Kalamazoo Avenue with a landscape buffer to make it more accessible and pedestrian friendly, he said.