Las Vegas, NV

The Lloyd D. George United States Courthouse in Las Vegas is designed to accommodate the space needs of the U.S. Courts for the District of Nevada until the year 2022. The design consists of 437,000 sf of space for six U.S. District Courts, four U.S. Magistrates, judges' chambers, Clerk of the U.S. Courts, jury assembly, U.S. Marshal Services, U.S. Attorney, and U.S. senators.

The syntax of the internal organization is largely driven by the relationships between public, secure, and restricted space. Completing the two sides of the L, a large scaled canopy simultaneously frames the plaza as a grand civic space and mitigates the harsh summer sun. A monumentally scaled steel column supports this canopy. The public lobby is composed of a three-story, glazed-roof rotunda, accessed through a single-story secured entry point.

The building is situated on the southern end of the Las Vegas Boulevard site, acting as a symbolic corner for downtown Las Vegas. The project opens up to embrace the city and protect the entry plaza from prevailing winds and the southern sun. The entry sequence occurs through a sequence of spaces from the city to the raised plaza, past a reflecting pool, into the urban scaled space under the canopy, through the security checkpoint, and into the light-filled public lobby. The public spaces on the upper floors are all oriented back toward the covered entry plaza to reinforce the building's spatial focus and organization. While the design character of the building satisfied the image and mission goals established for federal buildings, the GSA's programmatic, functional, and operational goals were achieved through a careful program verification and confirmation process.