San Diego’s new ‘urban’ courthouse is a modern, safer alternative to the old one

Stretching 22 stories into the sky above downtown San Diego, the new $555.5-million state courthouse is a high-tech marvel but also offers some practical safety improvements.

For instance, defendants transported from jail to court will no longer be escorted down the same crowded hallways as lawyers, jurors and witnesses like they have for decades in the existing downtown courthouse, where in some places the groups are separated only by a sheriff’s deputy.

In the new building, which will be dedicated Monday in an invitation-only event, deputies will move defendants from the sally port to the underground holding areas and into the courtrooms through secure elevators that run from the basement to the upper levels.

“In-custody defendants will never meet with the public except here in the courtroom,” said Clifford Ham, principal architect for the Judicial Council of California, while standing in the room that will handle felony arraignments.

The expectation is that the new Superior Court building, constructed to replace three downtown court properties, will be modern and adaptable so that it can safely accommodate the 1.2 million people who will pass through its doors each year.

That’s about 4,000 people, including attorneys and employees, each day it’s open for business. At first glance, the inside of the building looks like an airport terminal. It’s big and impressive, full of electronic gadgetry, and there are multiple pathways to get to various destinations.

“It is truly an urban court building, no longer a ‘house,’” Ham said — even if local court officers still call it the San Diego Central Courthouse.

The 369-foot-high structure at Union and C streets is replacing the three-block-long, seven-story County Courthouse that opened in 1961 at a cost of $11 million.

The east and west facades of the new building differ from each other because they represent what’s behind the walls — the public corridors on the east, and judges’ chambers and back-of-the-house administrative offices on the west.

A rooftop canopy shades the east facade and crowns the building as a modern interpretation of the traditional, 19th century courthouse top — a dome, cupola or clock tower.

Project architect Javier Arizmendi with Skidmore Owings & Merrill calls the 48-foot atrium the “heart” of the building — a light-filled space with 19, 42-foot tall windows. It’s the place where lawyers, litigants and the public will come together before heading into courtrooms.

The building’s electronic gadgetry, akin to an airport, is immediately apparent in the five security stations, 12 television monitors displaying each day’s calendar and six touchscreen building directories.

Six escalators will speed visitors to the second and third floors, the busiest areas of the building. On the north side are 16 public elevators. In the middle of the building, hidden from public view, is a bank of elevators that will transport prisoners from basement holding cells to their respective court proceedings. (A tunnel will one day link the building to the Central Jail two blocks east). Two elevators to the south will serve court staff and judges. Stairways lead directly to the ground level exit.

The 500-seat jury lounge and cafe are on the third floor, as is the 185-foot-long skybridge over C Street connecting to the fourth floor of the Hall of Justice to the south.

The finishes and fixtures are a step up from the old 1961 courthouse, marked for demolition.

Seating in the 71 courtrooms is on American cherrywood benches, like pews in a church, instead of individual folding seats that tend to break over time. The judge’s bench sits 18 inches above the floor, and overhead is a higher, brighter painted ceiling to contrast it with the jury and public area.

“It was a way of creating a hierarchy of spaces within the courtroom itself,” Arizmendi said.

Each of the courtrooms has updated security equipment, including cameras and silent alarms. Some of the furnishings, including the judge’s bench and clerk’s desk, are outfitted with woven fiberglass bullet-resistant paneling.

San Diego’s new courthouse is the most expensive of the 47 projects statewide funded from increased court filing fees. It’s replacing a courthouse riddled with problems from asbestos to security shortcomings. An earthquake fault also lies below the old complex.

“We’ve replaced one of the most deficient, unsafe buildings in our inventory, and one of the largest, ” Ham said.

roger.showley@sduniontribune.com

dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com