Courtrooms, as the primary module of the courthouse, are stages for justice, familiar from their actual use and also from images from pop culture, literature, and history that have shaped our ideas of what their spaces should be like. They are also places of work, where function, security, and cost must be managed. Significantly, they are the built representation of justice and the Third Branch of our government. Their form should encourage citizens' participation in a democratic society.
In the "Designing the Democratic Courtroom" session, a debate between Dr. Thanos Economou, a professor of architecture at Georgia Tech, and Chief Magistrate Judge Celeste Bremer will examine courtrooms and courthouses through an analysis of the history and logic of their design. The discussion will review the "standard" space and work relationships used in U.S. Courthouses, historic models, and other countries' courthouse designs.
The conversation between Dr. Economou and Judge Bremer began over a consideration of balconies as part of the courtroom space and has expanded to consider the courtroom as a design problem entirely in section: in terms of boundary, access and arrangement. The session will review historic examples of courtrooms and courthouses that have utilized balconies, corridors, and different compositional arrangements to shape our current image of these buildings; reflect on other building types that suggest possible design opportunities for courtrooms and courthouses; and hypothesize on future possibilities and potentials for democratic courtroom design. Participants will be challenged to analyze how design and architectural elements function for the democratic inclusion of citizens in the justice process.
In anticipation for the session, enjoy the movie clips from Fatal Instinct and To Kill a Mockingbird illustrating some of our cultural notions of the courtroom - from both comedy and drama ... which we will reflect on in more detail at the session Thursday Nov 6 at 8am.