THE LAW COURTS

The seven-storey Law Courts complex boasts facilities which reflect the most advanced concepts in jurisprudence. The Law Courts building is organized into four major components: public space, courtrooms, judges' chambers and administrative and support facilities. Major public spaces include the main floor Great Hall and three galleries. All are visually and physically connected. The building accommodates 35 courtrooms including 13 civil, 11 criminal, three appeal, three assize, three motion and two courtrooms designed especially for complex commercial cases.

Courtrooms on the first gallery level and above are criminal jury courtrooms: courtrooms located on the Great Hall level and below are used for civil jury and non-jury cases. The Law Courts also provide support services including jury retirement rooms, judges' retirement rooms, witness interview rooms, barristers' and counsel rooms. The facility also accommodates 60 judges with a separate library and a Law Society library and barristers' lounge.

Design of the complex was based on three criteria:

1. Circulation within the building was designed to ensure security separating all participants in the administration of justice from public circulation. The courthouse is divided into a public and private sector.
2. Focal areas of the Law Courts include both courtrooms and open space areas. Public areas were designed for relaxation, refreshment and communication beyond the courtroom. Open spaces also serve as both exhibition and education areas.
3. Flexibility to meet changes in the judicial system.

The Law Courts are distinguished by a sloping glass roof that measures well over an acre. The glass roof serves as a major symbol of publicness - its transparency inviting the public to enter, enjoy the public surroundings or partake in judicial procedures. The glass roof adds to the outdoor feeling of the civic space and facilitates a number of the courtrooms and all public galleries with natural sunlight. The spacetruss/skylight provides the roof and one wall of the main court floor and the terraced public galleries of the courthouse. The roof covers approximately 50,000 square feet of public space. Covered public galleries provide public access to courtrooms and they accommodate public seating, witness waiting and interview rooms, display and information spaces. This space is naturally air-conditioned. The regulation of its warmth and coolness is maintained in other wall-enclosed portions of the building. The concept was to capitalize upon and promote effects caused by the natural circulation of air. Water is stored and warmed during off-peak hours, which is used to heat the complex during the day. This system required the construction of an 840,000-gallon storage tank. Its effectiveness is optimized by a sophisticated computer control system, however the concept is based upon the fact that when a layer of warm water lies over a layer of cold water, the two will not mix because of differing densities. At night, the chilled water in the tank is regulated by piping water from the top into the chillers, and slipping it back into the bottom of the tank. Hot water, on the other hand, is the basis of the heating system. Water, 150,000 gallons of it, is contained within the Law Courts building to create the waterfalls. The falls themselves are created by the water circulated from the tank up over the roofs of the Government Buildings as one important fireproofing measure. The water from the falls is also useful for heating and cooling systems and for the fire sprinklers.

ROBSON SQUARE - AN OVERVIEW

Worldwide, there are few projects, which equal the unique design and low-profile structure of the $139 million, three-block Robson Square complex located in the heart of downtown Vancouver. Designed by Arthur Erickson, the complex houses a Law Courts building, a facility which reflects the most advanced concepts in jurisprudence, office space for 600 government employees, public amenities galore, and the City's only outdoor ice skating rink. Public amenities include a theatre/auditorium, a commercial size cinema, conference and meeting rooms, an exhibition area, two quality restaurants, an international food fair, public lounges, and a spectacular open-air plaza. The three-block development is connected by a three-dimensional urban park which incorporates a block-long rooftop reflecting pool, three waterfalls, a foot bridge, a man-made mountain, and hundreds of trees, shrubs, and ground coverings. Innovative technical features include the only floating, waterproof, sound and vibration-proof roadway in the province, a centralized computer centre which controls climate and security systems, energy storage tanks, and irrigation systems. The entire complex is cast in a specially designed concrete mix, which turns a warm, cheerful shade of rose buff when wet. Ultra modem in concept and design, the massive complex of parks and buildings offers a low-profile contrast, in height and design, to Vancouver's original courthouse located adjacent to the square, which was designed by architect Francis Rattenbury and completed in 1912.