Profile

Queens Family Court and City Agency Facility

Jamaica, New York
Completed 2003

Family court and office building for city agencies, serving the borough of Queens
 

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The Queens Family Court and City Agency Facility is a brick and glass building, four stories high, with a set back fifth story. It has been designed to complete the wall of residential and small institutional structures that surround historic Rufus King Park in downtown Jamaica, simultaneously maintaining a civic presence commensurate with the building's use.

The building is divided into two wings, joined by a one-story entrance pavilion. The 100,000-square-foot City Agency wing curves into the site, creating by this gesture an outdoor arrival court while providing generous amounts of natural light to the offices housed within.

The 175,000-square-foot Courthouse wing, disposed as a square, is designed to produce the most effective relationship between the courts and their supporting functions. As a building type, Family Court is notable for its high volume of daily visitors and for the stressful nature of the cases heard. Clarity of circulation and the quality of waiting areas are extremely important.  A central atrium containing an escalator and commissioned artwork organizes the whole, connecting on each floor to waiting areas that look out to the park or distant vistas. This reversal of the introverted layout of the traditional courthouse helps connect the waiting public to the social and physical fabric of the world outside. The courtrooms themselves are intimate in scale and have large windows to admit natural light. The goal throughout is to provide a humane environment infused with a sense of stability and permanence.

Major Components

175,000 s/f Courthouse wing with 40' x 40' central atrium; large Assignment Court Part and support functions (ground level); 16 Court Parts, 7 Hearing Rooms, 1 Adoptions Conference Room (levels 2-4); Judges' Chambers (level 5);  Judges' parking, holding areas and records storage (basement).

100,000 s/f City Agency Wing

2,700 s/f 1-story entrance pavilion

Awards

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners services

Site Planning; Architectural Design including public interiors, construction documents for exterior envelope and public interiors

Associate Architect

Gruzen Samton LLP, New York, NY

Structural

Ysrael A. Seinuk, P.C., New York, NY

Mechanical / Electrical / Plumbing / Telecommunications / Lighting

Cosentini Associates LLP, New York, NY

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