"Public buildings are part of a nation's legacy. They are symbolic of what Government is about, not just places where public business is conducted. Structures as diverse in time and location as Rome's Forum and our own Capitol are monuments to the vision, leadership, and commitment of the nations that build them." Robert A. Peck, Commissioner, Public Buildings Service

A NEW COURTHOUSE IN LAS CRUCES!

The U.S. General Service Administration (GSA), as landlord and builder for the Federal civilian Government, including the Courts, started a building program about ten years ago called the Design Excellence Program. The program is designed to help shape our country's legacy and the way people regard their Government as expressed by its public buildings. The program stresses creativity. It also streamlines the way GSA hires architects and engineers, substantially cutting the cost of competing for GSA design contracts. The objective is to achieve high quality design and construction of buildings that are representative of the importance of our government and its institutions. The Guiding Principles of Federal Architecture were established in 1962 and specify that government buildings should :

• Reflect the dignity, enterprise, vigor, and stability of the American National Government;


• Emphasize designs that embody the finest contemporary American architectural thought;
• When possible incorporate into such designs qualities which reflect the regional architectural traditions of that part of the Nation; and
• Where appropriate, incorporate fine art in the designs, with emphasis on the work of living American artists.
  
  In addition, the guidelines state that:

• The advice of distinguished architects ought to, as a rule, be sought prior to the award of an important design;
• Competitions for the design of Federal buildings may be held where appropriate; and


• The choice and development of the building site should be made in cooperation with local agencies.

For the new U.S. Courthouse in Las Cruces, the selection of the architecture and engineering (A/E) firm began by announcing the building contract through a publicly advertised announcement. Afterwards, the procedures for selecting the interested A/E firms involved three stages. Judge Bruce Black, GSA architects and engineers and a peer architect were involved in narrowing down the list of finalists to four A/E teams. The final stage involved a "vision competition" which was juried by three independent architects. The four entries were submitted without the jurors' knowledge of the authors of the schemes. The winning entry and the A/E firm which will be contracted by GSA is Antoine Predock Architect and BPLW. Both firms are from Albuquerque.

The following description and photographs of the winning scheme are the A/E team's vision for the U.S. Courthouse in Las Cruces and do not necessary represent the final design for the building. The six months will be spent by GSA, the Court and the A/E designing and creating the final documents used to construct the new US Courthouse.

THE AURA OF JUSTICE
AND THE ELUSIVE AURA OF THE HIGH DESERT

Antoine Predock, Architect, FAIA

Our research efforts for the new Courthouse began with an investigation to address the place at intangible levels - areas that would deal with the ephemeral quality of light, the mythic time of the desert, the immediacy of the sky, the sense of timelessness, and the assault of the elements. These core essentials are attributes that we have carried from the realm of investigation into the physicality of architecture. In so doing we have also taken a journey - through a rich and mysterious cultural stratigraphy, an evolving geological setting and a strange landscape of high technologies set upon an ancient tableau.

There is a palpable cultural landscape here that defines a world of magical realism, solace, rawness and quixotic journeys. From the earliest human inscriptions on stone in nearby canyons to the simple powerful patterns of the Mimbres potters to the Mogollon architecture and legends of Mexican tribes such as the Tarahumara, a cultural lineage has been defined. It has contributed to the writings of regional and Latin American authors and poets like Ofelia Cepeda, Denise Chavez, N. Scott Momaday, Rudolfo Anaya, Willa Cather, Cormac McCarthy, Isabel Allende and Mark Medoff. The evocation of water in "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Garcia-Marquez and the battle over water rights in "The Milagro Beanfield Wars" by John Nichols have established a cultural ground plane that is inherently about questions of "justice" tied to this precious resource. Films like Lonesome Dove, Paris Texas, Baghdad Café, Thelma and Louise, Raising Arizona and Traffic have all addressed the social and poetic underpinnings that the desert landscape inspires. There is an undeniable aura to this place that can inhabit the realm of architecture. Consequently, the new Courthouse as a national and local symbol must evoke the essential connection to "nature" that is an everyday event in New Mexico, with the vast sky and the immediacy of the desert landscape, while drawing inspiration from the Southwest in general and specifically Las Cruces.

As Las Cruces has historically been defined as a "crossroads" by the Camino Real and the Chihuahua Trail to the current national intersection of the I-25 and I-10 highways, our project takes form out of these two conditions and expands upon them as the defining notion. The North-South route represents the ancient cultural paths of the Camino Real and the deeper time-paths of the Mimbres, Mogollon and, farther Northwest, the Anasazi cultures. This is also the direction of the flow of the Rio Grande and the defining line where migration, both legal and illegal, penetrates the border today. The East-West roads and paths evoke a more present time established by Spanish and Anglo cultures, like the Butterfield Stage route, which moved through and settled the Southwest. This line is now a transcontinental and transportation route - the I-10 or "Columbus Highway".

As the notion of "crossroads" is examined more closely on the site, one sees a cultural divide between a fragmented urban core to the west of our site and the rich, historical Las Esperanzas Neighborhood to the east. Our scheme acts as a connective mediating tissue between downtown and the residential scale. Further, the potential for extraordinary framed views and a visual gateway toward the Organ Mountains (previously called the forgotten mountains), affirms the city's link to the landscape and Las Esperanzas. The mass of the Courthouse is established by two major divergent pieces that define the entry procession, establish the major public spaces and frame the spectacular view toward the east. As abstract references to the twin Organ Mountain pinnacles called "Rabbit Ears," these two masses contain the Courtrooms and the Judges' Chambers and are scaled to minimize perimeter height in the transition from west to east.

Entering the Courthouse, there is a clear sequence of events and processional spaces that reinforces the significance of a visit to an United States Courthouse. Pecan trees with linear irrigation channels create a welcome cooling shade and allow for the potential of a farmer's market during certain times of the year - defining the ground plane and referring to the nearby agricultural groves along the Rio Grande. The chiseled stone "body" of the building rises out of the mesa-like base of rough vernacular stonewalls seen throughout Las Cruces. Copper that is mined in the region punctuates the stone mass, defining particular components - at times shiny to reflect light and at other times patinated, to absorb light. As one passes through the security threshold, there is the sense that a journey is taking place - a journey that alludes to a natural landscape. The cryptic vertical circulation tower rises above the entry with textures subliminally recalling the "Tablets of Justice" of ancient time. The space, defined by the aura of the copper-lined walls of the two "ears" of the building, is not unlike a canyon, capturing light and reflecting views. The "courthouse steps" are aligned between these two perspectively divergent sides. The steps guide the visitor up onto the interior stone plaza, unfolding views of the sky, while relentlessly focusing on the mountains. The reversal of perspective perceptually results in the mountains appearing closer. This arrival point is like a "mesilla" or plateau that acts as a communal gathering point, where courtroom family reunions related to immigration cases, will spill out and public congregations will cycle in and out.

While the body of the Courthouse draws inspiration from the simple, unadorned, massive walls of the Mogollon Culture of the nearby Gila Wilderness, subtractive balcony and window openings, reminiscent of their cliff dwellings, add relief. The carved-out and projecting portions of the building define a hierarchy of smaller gathering spaces that are both indoor/outdoor and public or private. These spaces consistently allow outward views and light penetration to the Jury Rooms, the Judge's Chambers and the Courtrooms. Diffuse natural light penetrates the Courtrooms in a number of ways. First, a light shaft is developed in plan along the edge of the courtrooms that delivers lateral light between the Jury Deliberation and the Courtroom filtering in over the Jury Box. Secondly, a light zone is developed in section that delivers soft diffuse light above the Judge's Bench. The interiors of the courtrooms are lined in pecan paneling. Sunlight is consistently modulated through glazed areas via metal louvers or scrims.

The new United States Courthouse for Las Cruces will at once be a dignified civic monument that focuses the heart of the city, while simultaneously maintaining an appropriate perimeter scale. With the familiar pecan grove atmosphere and communal openness to the culturally rich surrounding neighborhoods, the Courthouse fulfills an urban mission. As originally named, El Pueblo del Jardin de Las Cruces or simply, "the garden village at the crossroads" - is an apt description of the core of our design intention. Paralleling this notion, we have developed a new courthouse design that projects a future vision for the City of Las Cruces, while remaining aligned to the powerful timelessness of the New Mexico high desert. Finally, apart from the exigencies of function and court ritual that the project responds to and consummately addresses, there is a profound evocation of the intangible aura and deep time of this frontier realm.