| Networking |
| PB's Other Face |
| By Judith Kunoff, New York, New York 1-212-791-9346, kunoff@pbworld.com
|
| Our team met a variety
of distinct challenges on four projects within one building. The results
were an historic, architecturally detailed interior being revived
in a modern context. |
|
PB's predominance in the areas of infrastructure design and construction
management is familiar to all of us. Perhaps lesser known is our influence
on architecture. In the case of the U.S. Courthouse at Foley Square
in New York City, for example, our architectural influence resulted
in a newly renovated courtroom that has been toasted by the U.S. Court
of Appeals.
Our challenges on this project included:
- Working with a limited low budget
- Meeting modern technological needs without
disturbing the historic quality of the space
- Responding to a many-faceted client whose
needs and priorities were not always aligned
- Following State Historic Preservation Office regulations for
National Historic Landmark Buildings while changing the use of
a courtroom.
In our role as construction quality manager, we worked hand in hand
with several entities to produce a state-of-the-art courtroom in an
historical landmark building. These included a many-facetted client-General
Services Administration (GSA) Property Development Division, the property
administrator; GSA Building Management Division, the property manager;
and the U.S. Court of Appeals-the end user, Perkins Eastman Architects
and the designer, Cosentini Engineers.
Figure 1: Historic detailed ceilings were double high and
constructed to the underside of beams |
Budgetary Constraints
At the onset, GSA's Property Development Division requested funding
from the U.S. Senate to renovate and upgrade spaces and services for
the entire courthouse building, but the Senate was unable to fund
this large project. Each of the tenants at Foley Square funded smaller
priority projects throughout the building. As such, a limited budget
was allocated for each of our four projects, which were:
- Renovating and changing the use of an existing
large district courtroom to house the Appellate Court for the
U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, and renovating three small
district courtrooms to house the chambers of three appellate judges
and their staffs-a project funded by the U.S. Court of Appeals,
Second Circuit.
- Upgrading the entire electrical feed and
fire alarm throughout the building-funded by the U.S. Senate through
the GSA Property Development Division.
- Renovating existing office space to house
chambers for three additional appellate court judges and their
staffs-funded by the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.
- Repairing the exterior facade-funded by the
GSA Project Management Division.
Figure 2: This door tran-som houses some of the new audio-visual
equip-ment |
These tight budgets resulted in a tight construction/quality control
budget as well. Although our services were limited by hours, however,
our team showed great eagerness and made a strong effort to produce
a quality project. As a result, GSA and the varied clients were fully
satisfied and we exceeded our proposed margin.
Preserving Historical Features While Meeting
Modern Needs
Older buildings provide a challenging construction environment and
the U.S. Courthouse, designed by Cass Gilbert in the 1930s, was no
exception. For example:
- Historic, detailed ceilings in courtrooms
and public corridors (Figure 1) are double high and were constructed
to the
underside of beams. These features do not allow for the simple
installation of electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems.
- Access panels were not installed in the original
construction of the historical ceilings, making it quite challenging
to access the existing wiring above.
- The original wood veneer panels that faced the walls of the
courtroom were put together in place originally without facing
nails, so it would have been prohibitively expensive to remove
these panels to install infrastructure and then reinstall them.
The contract required that a number of fairly advanced technological
systems be installed and that the historical details original to the
courtroom be maintained. We were not able to gain access behind panels
or the chase across the historic ceiling, so we used creative routing
and the skills of talented painters to hide the many boxes and wires
required to house an audio-visual system that allowed for closed circuit
broadcasting of sessions (Figure 2). These same techniques were used
to hide an advanced security monitoring system from the eyes of the
day-to-day users.
Figure 3: Placement of the emergency flood lighting convays
a sense of design |
Protecting the historic architectural aesthetic of this courtroom
did prove to be almost too much of a challenge at times, as in the
case of battery supported emergency floodlighting required by code.
The budget dictated the use of a most imposing fixture that could
not be obscured. Our team's solution was to make sure that the placement
of these obvious fixtures was chosen according to the architectural
aesthetics used throughout the project. We placed these fixtures on
center of the pilasters just below crown molding. This placement did
not obscure the fixtures, but it did convey a sense of design (Figure
3).
The challenges of meeting all of the client's modern technological
needs while protecting the architectural and historical aesthetic
remained a goal to the entire design and construction team, and we
made sure that they were achieved within the budgetary, schedule and
political constraints that defined this project.
Satisfying
a Many-Faceted Client
Aesthetics is a subjective term. When the client is many facetted
as ours was-the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit; GSA Property
Development Division and GSA Property Management Division- opinions
on the desired aesthetic can be varied. We rallied to align all representations
of "the client" to the same aesthetic goals.
At times, this challenge appeared to be the greatest challenge of
all. Visiting case studies, viewing and reviewing mock-ups, and persevering
in discussion brought about a vision that was not only accepted by
this "client," but that became the example to be followed.
Subsequent to the completion of the renovation of this courtroom,
the Second Circuit Court of Appeals chose to renovate the 17th floor
courtroom to meet the standard we had achieved on the 15th floor.
Figure 4: This view toward the back of the courtroom shows
the main entry that was added in the rear, and the hi-tech controls
on the clerk's bench in the foreground |
Meeting Regulations
Although not a client, the State Historic Preservation Office regulates
design and construction within National Historic Landmark Buildings,
so it also directed the aesthetic achieved in the 15th floor courtroom
project. Many decisions had to be brought before this body for approval,
particularly during the design phase.
The design team reviewed the basic requirement to alter an existing
District Courtroom (used for litigation trials by jury)
to an Appellate Courtroom (used for presenting appeals) and determined
that the following changes were needed:
- The jury bench had to be removed and incorporated
into a judges' panel bench.
- The flow of traffic into and out of the courtroom
would change completely, so certain doors had to be removed and
new doors installed in existing walls.
- The spectator seating had to be reconfigured.
SHPO needed to decide whether these changes, which clearly would alter
the original design and design intent, should be allowed. Would these
changes cause an irreversible change and prevent protection of the
historic quality and nature of this building? SHPO determined that
these design changes would be acceptable, assuming the grandeur and
the details defining that grandeur were protected and remained intact.
The resulting renovation (Figure 4) has become the toast of the United
States Court of Appeals.
Teamwork
Was the Key
The solution used over and over again to resolve the challenges that
we faced and achieve a grand architectural aesthetic was teamwork.
We orchestrated the players in such a fashion so as to encourage all
of them to express their opinions, share their knowledge and acknowledge
and appreciate each others' strengths and weaknesses. The balance
and harmony apparent upon entering the courtroom is the direct result
of this orchestration. |
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| Judy Kunoff has been with PB since early 1997.
A licensed architect, she is Project Manager on several construction
quality management projects, including the U.S. Courthouse project.
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