Strategies for Selecting
the Lead Designer and the Design Excellence A/E Team
Sample Vision Competition Program
page 2
It is further proposed that the new courthouse be built in coordination with the operation
of the existing John A. Campbell Courthouse. The existing courthouse would be used to
house the Bankruptcy courts, bankruptcy administrator, and the housing of two senior
District judges. This arrangement would provide space for the entire courts family to be
co-located in government owned space, and allow the new facility to be smaller in scale.
Project Background
In May of 1993, a planning team of court and court-related representatives developed
the Long Range Facility Plan for the Southern District of Alabama. The purpose of the
plan was to provide an analysis of the comprehensive facility needs for the District. This
plan included the input of the entire court family, the Administrative Office of the Courts,
GSA, and the Space and Facility Committee of the Judicial Conference. The historical
data developed in the Long Range Facility Plan accurately reflects the experience
of the Southern District and there is no reason to think that the court will not expand
commensurate with the assumptions made in the plan.
The planning team members agreed that the John A. Campbell Courthouse is currently
out of space. At the current complement of nine judicial officers there is not space for
additional chambers, courtrooms, or support personnel space. There is not enough
expansion room in the courthouse to house the growth of the District Court, Circuit
Court, and U.S. Marshals Services over the next ten years. The projected growth for
these court functions shows them at a space deficit of over 4 750.72 sm (51,136 sf)
should they remain in the building for the ten year period described in the plan.
The courthouse was constructed in 1932, and has inadequate security systems. There
is no separate access to the courthouse for either judicial officers or prisoners. There
are no secure private corridors for access to courtrooms, chambers or Marshal's areas,
and no secure elevators. There are no holding cells contiguous to the courtrooms.
The parking garage that is attached to the rear of the courthouse is open to pedestrians
and only secured from vehicles by a "lifting arm" gate at entry and exit.
All other divisions of the court and court-related family have already been fragmented to
other buildings in downtown Mobile. At the time of the planning study, it was estimated
that the court family was at a space deficit of 2 863 sm (30,824 sf).
In summary, the court family is operating with significant space deficits in deficient
physical facilities. The long range plan projects a total growth of the court family
of 121.3 percent over the thirty year period described in the plan. That growth would
include eight additional judges as well as the increases in the support and related
functions.
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