"Wing" Design
The Queens Family Court and City Agency Facility is a brick and glass building, four stories high, with a setback fifth story. The building has two wings, joined by a one-story entrance pavilion. The entrance includes dual stainless steel clad entrances, skylights across the roof, and state-of-the-art security systems.
The 100,000sf city agency wing curves into the site, creating an outdoor arrival court while providing generous amounts of natural light to the offices housed within. Major components of the construction included:
- 24 criminal and civil courtrooms
- hearing rooms
- attorney and adoptions conference rooms
- waiting areas
- judges' chambers
- detention facilities and holding areas for juveniles and adults
The 175,000sf courthouse wing, disposed as a square, producing the most effective relationship between the courts and their supporting functions. As a building type, family court is notable for its high volume of daily visitors and for the stressful nature of the cases heard. Clarity of circulation and the quality of waiting areas are extremely important. The courtrooms themselves are intimate in scale and have large windows to admit natural light.
Construction Challenges
The bonding company requested that our firm complete the general construction contract for this Wick’s Law project after the initial contractor left the job. The project's completion was a serious challenge, requiring the re-procurement of terminated contracts. These contracts included curtainwall, carpentry, drywall, terrazzo, fireproofing, ornamental metal and glass, site work and numerous smaller packages. The project team redeveloped construction activities, schedules, sequencing, and coordination to progress the balance of the work expeditiously.
