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PROJECT: Develop Courthouse Design Security Guidelines for Ontario, Canada
 

 Main Courtroom, Sudbury Courthouse. Ontario, Canada




 Clark County Regional Justice Center, seen from U.S. District Courthouse; Las Vegas, NV




 		 Responding to increased security concerns for Ontario's courthouses, its Ministry of the Attorney General established a project to develop guidelines for providing increased security capabilities in new courthouse designs and also applicable for renovating existing courthouses. Attention was directed to structural, architectural, material, and technological aspects of new buildings and their sites, with the aim of providing features to limit their vulnerability to the broad range of security threats being experienced or anticipated in the changing 21st century world.

SCOPE OF SERVICES: LSC, as consultant to an architectural firm contracted with the Ontario Realty Corporation (comparable to the U. S. General Services Administration), drafted the document, based on observations made during site visits to Ontario Courthouses and case studies of recently constructed US courthouses. The concept includes well-established design rules to achieve safe and secure interior designs, structural and material principles to address external threats, and adaptations of CPTED techniques to designs of site exteriors.

DATE: 2006 - 2007

THE OUTCOME: A volume of design principles and specific guidelines was developed for use by architects and engineers engaging in the design of large and small courthouses for the province, applicable also to the renovation and reorganization of existing facilities.

REFERENCE: Peter Berton, Partner, The Ventin Group Architects, 72 Stafford Street, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 6J 2R9, Tel 416 588 6370

RESPONSIBILITIES: Carried out the above services as consultant to the referenced architectural firm.