U.S. Courts Design Guide
controlled by U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) personnel. The suite must be easily
accessible to U.S. Attorney staff without requiring them to enter the courts' restricted
access areas. The suite must be located in an area with light public traffic, and on a
floor not occupied by courtrooms. Protective and in-custody witnesses must enter this
area through the USMS secure circulation system. During grand jury hearings, the
suite and associated individual spaces must be secure.
Size
The net areas specified in the Guide exclude space required to accommodate
circulation among the listed spaces. While the amount of required circulation space
varies with each facility's specific design, an additional percentage of 13% can be
applied to the jury assembly area and 11% to the grand jury suite during planning to
determine the total usable area of the facility (i.e., the estimated total usable area of the
facility is equal to the sum of all the net programmed spaces plus 10% to 15%). The
trial jury suite is programmed as net usable space, with a circulation percentage of
17% added as part of restricted circulation on the courtroom/trial jury suite/chambers
floor.
Jury Assembly Suite
Overall size varies, but the assembly area requires ten net square feet (NSF) [0.93 net
square meters (Nm2)] per person for the number of people expected to be called for
jury service. In addition, 20 NSF (1.9 Nm2) per person for 20% of the prospective
jurors must be provided for a lounge area. The suite must accommodate the necessary
furniture with sufficient room for unencumbered movement. The ceiling height must
be in proportion to the area of the space. For further detail and the sizes of jury
spaces, see Table 7.1.
Trial Jury Suites
Trial jury suites require 600 NSF (53 Nm2) for USDC juries and 500 NSF (43.7
Nm2) for USDC Magistrate Judge and USBC juries. See Table 7.1 for further detail.
7-22
12/19/97
Previous Page
