Profile

The Roman L. Hruska
United States Courthouse

Omaha, Nebraska
Completed 2000

Lead Designer: James Ingo Freed

4–6 story U.S. courthouse and federal building
 

Click on images to enlarge.

This courthouse was undertaken to provide the federal court system with expanded, more suitable and advanced facilities in downtown Omaha, while serving as a catalyst for the development of the surrounding central business district. The winner of a national selection process, the project inaugurated the Design Excellence Program of the General Services Administration which was begun in 1994 to encourage quality and creativity in federal architecture.

Space requirements were developed by projecting court expansion over a ten-year period. The building thus opens with nine courtrooms and a wide range of court-related facilities, while allowing for future modification to house a total of twelve courtrooms.

The four-square fenestration pattern diagrammatically reveals interior organization as the courtrooms, surrounded by support space, are arranged in quadrants around a central reception / circulation / assembly hall. Rising seventy feet to a skylight and circuited by galleries to provide a highly visible hub of movement, this octagonal room is functionally and symbolically the public heart of the courthouse. It rises above the roofline with a petal-like aluminum crown to shelter the courtrooms and celebrate the existence of a vital civic space downtown. Nearly two-thirds of courthouse's sloped two-block site has been left open as a means of further engaging the public realm.

The underlying goal of this project was to satisfy the strict functional demands of the federal courts, now and well into the future, while fulfilling civic aspirations and reinforcing the central importance of jurisprudence with a courthouse designed to be open and inviting, equally accessible to all.

Major Components

1 Court of Appeals Courtroom (Panel Courtroom), 1 Special Proceedings Courtroom, 4 District Courtrooms, 2 Magistrate Courtrooms, 1 Bankruptcy Courtroom, 9 Judges' Chambers, Grand Jury Suite, Jury Assembly Room, Law Library, Pre-Trial and Probation Services, offices for the U.S. Marshal's Service, U.S. Trustee, U.S. Attorney, Federal Public Defender, General Services Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor, Department of Agriculture, other federal agencies; central hall for circulation, reception and public assembly (60' x 60' x 70' high); .9-acre landscaped public spaces; 1.4 acres surface parking

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners services

Architectural services through design development; design review of exterior envelope, courtrooms and public spaces during construction; coordination with associate architect on construction documents and construction administration

Structural

DLR Group, Omaha, NE

Mechanical

DLR Group, Omaha, NE

Courts Programming and Planning

Gruzen Samton LLP, New York, NY

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