This is the second time this Australian workshop has been built for the British justice system: their complex for the civil court of Manchester won the RIBA award last year and was shortlisted for the Sterling Award.
The Birmingham Magistrates Court building will include 24 courtrooms. As for the Manchester building, its appearance will be determined by the console blocks protruding from the surface of the facade. They will have rest rooms for magistrates (justices of the peace) and meeting rooms. In addition, stripes of glazing will cut through the silvery surface of the metal-paneled walls, allowing sunlight to penetrate public spaces, including the courtrooms. Thanks to this solution, the streamlined sculptural volume of the building will interact more actively with the surroundings and will be more “civic” than the surrounding office and residential complexes of the city center. Its four upper tiers will occupy the offices of the leadership and judges, united around the atrium.
The construction of the complex should start before the end of 2009.
