Still under construction, the new federal
courthouse is
emerging in the
form of an intriguing elliptical mass. Built on a site that
occupies a full
block of Delaware Avenue at Niagara Square, its neighbored
by City
Hall, the new Avant, and the McKinley
Monument. It enjoys clear views of County
Hall and
almost
every other city landmark. (The intimate proximity of the
venerable Statler
Building now
makes
that project’s forward movement even more crucial.)
The courthouse was a long time in coming. The process started
fourteen years ago. When finally approved, it experienced
substantial delay by
the federal moratorium on courthouse construction, General
Services
Administration (GSA) funding cuts, and the competition from
many other cities
that also vied for new buildings. (There are currently
approximately fifty
cities with projects hoping to be approved.) It took
vigorous advocacy by the
WNY congressional delegation to finally get the project
started.
Courthouse architect Bill
Pederson (a
founding
partner and design partner of Kohn Pederson Fox) sees a
strong
correlation between the care invested in the way a
courthouse is put together
and the experience a person has when entering the judicial
process; Pederson
cites Judge Stephen Breyer’s careful oversight of
Boston’s courthouse
construction (before Breyer became a Supreme Court justice)
as an important
influence. The architect has designed three federal court
buildings
(Minneapolis, Portland, and now Buffalo) and has found the
experiences to be
“incredibly positive.” He observes, “The judges have unique
personalities but
with a commonality that shares a tremendous commitment to
producing something
first-rate.”
Pederson talks about the challenge of planning a building
that would represent the highest level of construction while
keeping within the
very strict budget of the General Service Administration—its
limitations have
become increasingly demanding over the years. His firm
initially presented
three designs, challenged to meet that budget without
compromising any aspect
of the design. Noting that the most expensive ingredient of
many building is
the exterior wall, Pederson explains that the thought
process that shaped the
Buffalo courthouse structure benefits from the efficiencies
of its basic
geometries. A rectilinear building has ten percent more wall
surface area than
the cylindrical shape, so the inherent efficiencies of
enclosing the conical
design result in direct cost savings.
The design that emerged is essentially composed of three
elements, with Pederson drawing an analogy to Santa
Maria del Fiore,
the great cathedral in Florence, Italy. That
Renaissance icon includes the cathedral with Brunelleschi’s
dome, the
Baptistery, and Giotto’s bell tower. Those three components
create an urban
gathering place and represent a dialogue of community.
That’s the goal
Pederson’s design aims to achieve with its own tower,
atrium, and courthouse
buildings.
The courthouse would be analogous to the duomo. The elevator
tower is like the campanile, but instead of a bell tower,
the glass enclosure
is topped by a glowing lantern.
The atrium that faces Niagara Square becomes a
gardenlike pavilion
to welcome people into the main courthouse building.
In the ongoing controversy whether classical styles or
Modernist designs are more appropriate for civic buildings,
Pederson’s approach
seems to respect and incorporate historic traditions while
interpreting them in
a contemporary vocabulary. The entrance pavilion will house
a piece of art by
Robert Mangold, the Buffalo-area-born,
internationally known abstract painter.
Pederson notes his work was selected because “It is very
serene, almost
Zen-like, in its quality. Artwork that would calm the
spirit, rather than
agitate, seemed an appropriate way to set the tone for
people coming into the
judicial process.” The commission coincided with Mangold’s
series of column
paintings, and the work is now being fabricated in Germany.
One of the biggest requirements of the building is to comply
with very specific federal standards of resistance to
potential explosives. If
glass were used for the entire building shell, the cost of
including this
protection would demolish the budget. By using precast
concrete panels, the blast requirements could be efficiently satisfied with
a third of the cost. Glass
leaves will
be pinned to
the concrete piers, leaving a one-foot separation between
panels and building
to allow them to be cleaned. (A mock-up showing the
application is built at
street level now.) These translucent glass panels will
transform the visual
characteristics of the ominous drum you see now, as well as
functioning as a solar
screen.
As they pick up the afternoon sun, Pederson believes that
they will reflect light, almost like the facets of a jewel.
The courthouse project is ten stories and 264,000
square
feet. It will house the courts and judicial chambers that
are currently in the Dillon
Federal Courthouse on Court Street.
In addition to the building’s massive elliptical drum whose
crown is dramatically slashed, there are several
individual elements that look
to me like they will be showstoppers. First is the sharp
prow of the pavilion
building formed by the meeting of two angled walls. Second
is the strikingly
tall elevator shaft that tapers with an interesting
asymmetry to form a tower
that will be capped by a lantern.
Third is the taut glass triangle that forms a
second prow looking north and south at the west end of
each floor’s glass
gallery.