Sandra Day O'Connor United States Courthouse explained

Sandra Day O'Connor United States Courthouse
Status:Completed
Building Type:Courthouse
Cost:$123 million
Current Tenants:United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
United States District Court for the District of Arizona
Address:401 West Washington Street
Location Town:Phoenix, Arizona
Location Country:United States
Inauguration Date:October 2000
Floor Count:Six
Floor Area:550000square feet
Architect:Richard Meier
Langdon Wilson Architecture
Parking:No public parking

The Sandra Day O'Connor United States Courthouse is a courthouse at 401 West Washington Street in Phoenix, Arizona. Pursuant to, enacted by the United States Congress, it is named after Sandra Day O'Connor, who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from September 21, 1981, to January 31, 2006.

Description

The building is home to the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, and also hosts Circuit Judges William C. Canby Jr.; Michael Daly Hawkins; Mary H. Murguia; Mary M. Schroeder; Andrew D. Hurwitz; and Barry G. Silverman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Built at a cost of $123 million and dedicated in October 2000, the building was championed by Senior United States District Judge Robert C. Broomfield. It was designed by architect Richard Meier,[1] with local executive architects of Langdon Wilson Architecture in Phoenix. The building is in Meier's signature monochrome style. Standing six stories tall, it encompasses more than 550000square feet. The building's public atrium features a six-story glass curtain wall on the north face, and contains a drum-shaped special-proceedings courtroom with a glass-lens ceiling, the work of James Carpenter, an American light artist and designer. There is no public parking.

Climate-control problems

Although part of the General Services Administration's initiative to bring design excellence to public buildings, the building has been plagued with climate-control problems with its evaporative-cooling system. Temperatures in the atrium have been known to reach 100°F in the summer, and the ceiling was open to dust storms, but now motorized louvers prevent infiltration during storms.

See also

References

Notes and References

  1. Santos, Fernanda (August 4, 2012). "Where Indoors Can Become Too Much Like Outdoors". The New York Times (via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Retrieved August 6, 2012.