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St. Tammany Parish Justice Center,
Mandeville
Contractor:
Brice Building Co. Inc., Metairie
Cost: $38 million
Senior project manager: Greg
Farnet
Assistant project manager: Kevin
Clement
Jobsite superintendent: Don
Plaisance Sr.
Assistant jobsite superintendent:
Tim Thornton
Architects: Richard C. Lambert
Consultants LLC, Mandeville; Pierce, Goodwin, Alexander
& Linville Inc., Houston, Texas
Engineers: Young, Wardlaw,
Lasseigne, Baton Rouge; Associated Design Group, Lafayette |
The new St. Tammany Parish Justice Center in Mandeville brought
site and planning challenges not uncommon to the revitalization
of small-town public spaces.
The most significant was designing a 303,000-sq.-ft., multi-use
building to the appropriate scale of the historic district
setting, while maintaining the courthouse image and function
required for such a facility.
The St. Tammany Parish Justice Center houses 12 courtrooms
and space for two future courtrooms, district attorney's office,
sheriff's office, the parish clerk's office, indigent defender's
office, tax assessor's office and several other parish departments.
The driving concept for the project's design was to maintain
the solemnity and civic presence of the judicial system, while
incorporating the stringent planning and secondary considerations
required by the facility's mix of uses.
Because the new complex includes governmental offices in
addition to the parish courthouse, one challenge was to provide
the security required in a court facility and yet allow for
less stringent public access to those functions not requiring
a higher level of security. This issue was resolved by segregating
less secure functions in the central core of the building
and controlling access to perimeter areas of the building
that required strict segregation from public access.
This, along with appropriate stacking of court functions,
created a highly efficient layout that accommodates the various
needs of the parish government and its citizens.
The $38 million St. Tammany Parish Justice Center has two
missions: to serve as a new governmental and public center
for St. Tammany Parish and to expand the current revitalization
and rejuvenation of Covington's historic business district.
The courthouse is designed to reflect the stability and conservative
nature of the local government and to serve as the centerpiece
not only for the City of Covington but for the entire St.
Tammany Parish.
The courthouse's construction was bid 5 percent under the
design team's estimate, with construction completed in 2003.
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