The Carl B. Stokes United
States Court House is situated on the west end of the
famed Tower City Development at the edge of the Central
Business District overlooking the Cuyahoga River. The
court house is linked by an indoor pedestrian walkway to
the "Avenue at Tower City" complex offering shopping,
hotels, restaurants, movie theaters and the Regional
Transit Authority Station. The facility is at the
transition of the upper city and the "Flats-Warehouse
District" where burgeoning entertainment and housing is
developing.
BACKGROUNDOn May 28,1997 the General Services Administration broke
ground for the
first Federal court house to be built in Cleveland in
over 87 years and will
meet the federal courts’ space needs into the early
years of the 21st
century. The structure has a gross area of 727,000
square feet for
courtrooms, judges chambers, Clerk of the U. S. District
Court, U. S.
Attorney, Probation Services, Pretrial Services, U. S.
Marshal Service, and
other court related agencies.
DESIGN CONCEPT
Situated at the northeast corner of the site, the
building rises 22 stories,
(430 feet) above its entrance on Huron Road. The curved
side overlooks the
river. Above the seventh floor, the juncture of the two
flat sides is clipped,
forming a diagonal fourth wall oriented to downtown and
the Terminal Tower.
The project is one of the first in Cleveland using
metric measurement
throughout construction. It also employs a mat
foundation as a cost saving
alternative to drilling deep caissons. The buildings
entire 55,000 ton weight
rests on a 6-7 foot thick concrete mat. Pouring the mat
took approximately
1000 truckloads of cement, but was about 60% of the cost
of digging and
pouring deep caissons. The design, while visually
relating to neighboring
buildings, imparts a separate symbolic identity as a
court house. The roof line of the seven story base,
corresponding
to the height of nearby buildings, is sharply marked off
with setbacks and cornices that repeat the architecture
of a
previous era. The shaft, accented with gray and light
limestone, rises fifteen levels above the base and is
capped with
a large, distinctive abstraction of the cornices below.
Views from the courtroom lobbies in the high rise tower
look towards downtown
and the historic Howard M. Metzenbaum U. S. Court House
on Superior Avenue
built in 1910. Facing the corner of Huron Road and
Superior Avenue, the buildings
monumental entrance will feature a sculpture of Justice,
commissioned through
GSA’s Art-in-Architecture program. The new Carl B.
Stokes U. S. Court House is
considered a major addition to the Civic Structures in
Cleveland, and a distinguished addition to the Cleveland skyline. The
design will provide efficient
and economical workspace for the U. S. Courts and other
Federal Agencies. It is
a “State of the Art“ facility giving visual testimony to
the enterprise, vigor, and
stability of the American Government.
The new facility houses the court and the court related
family of agencies. The
mix of courtrooms includes 10 District (including 1
special proceedings and 5
Senior Judge Courtrooms) and 6 Magistrate. The
Bankruptcy Court will remain in
the existing Courthouse. The building will accommodate
the 10-year growth
requirements of the United States District Courts with
potential to add space on
the same site in the future.
SITE PLAN The new building is situated on a 5+ acre site
overlooking the
Cuyahoga River at Superior Avenue and Huron Road. The
address is 801 West Superior Avenue. The site is a
landmark
location that anchors the eastern end of a major
redevelopment
corridor. The location of the building was carefully
considered to
provide a secure setback yet maintain a very
identifiable public
entry. Detailed study was given to the scale of the
building to
the site in order to establish a monumental building
mass
without compromising the “view corridor”.
|
