Polk County Juvenile Justice Center

OPN Architects

Recognitions: 2019 AIA Iowa Design Award

Project Description

The Juvenile Justice Center was the first of three projects to address Polk County, Iowa's overcrowded court system, improve courthouse safety, and reduce the county’s reliance on leased property for court-related functions. While the project is named Juvenile Justice Center, Juvenile Court is just one of several user groups housed within the 174,000-square-foot abandoned office building, originally built in 1971 as a JC Penney. Three of the interior floors are interconnected by an open stairway which replaced the old department store escalators. A new public elevator supplements the stairway as primary vertical circulation. The centralized open stairway also serves as a large porthole for daylighting gathered from the large open corridors and east facing windows on first and second floors to penetrate the lower level. The requirement for separate public, secure judicial, and secure detainee circulation presented a major challenge for daylighting the courtrooms. Fortunately, at exterior facing courtroom, the high ceilings allowed the use of transoms at courtroom headwalls to borrow daylight over top of the back-of-courtroom circulation corridors. Indiana limestone, glass curtainwalls, wood panels and shade devices, and zinc cladding rejuvenated the nearly windowless brick façade of the 1970s department store. On the public side of the courtrooms, wood and zinc elements accentuate the courtroom entrances and complement the exterior material pallet. These material accents along with clearly defined circulation and wayfinding, warm and effective daylighting, and comfortable seating combine to create calming environment and exceptional user experience.