Miami-Dade Family Court Building, Miami, Florida

In the civic center area of Miami, Florida, near the older County Courthouse, the 31 story MIAMI-DADE FAMILY COURT BUILDING was originally constructed as a commercial office building intended to be leased for law offices. Purchased by the courts empty and largely unfinished, the building was renovated to serve as a family courthouse and was occupied in 1999. Housed here are the family and domestic violence courts, some of the most dangerous proceedings in the modern caseload. Because of the commercial origin eight floors of garage space are included in the building, but for security reasons these cannot be used for public parking. In the first year of operation the courthouse held some of the hearings in the Elian Gonzales case, a severe test of its security provisions.