Last week, the US General Services Administration announced that it would hire Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to design a new federal courthouse on a weedy site at First and Broadway (they also released glassy-, boxy-looking renderings). SOM was up against three other design teams on the shortlist and now the Brooks + Scarpa/HMC Architects/McCarthy team has released its proposed plan, which will otherwise be lost to history. Their 320-foot tall building was "Inspired by the interweaving of a grand natural arch embedded with a memory of the scales of Lady Justice who represents the allegorical personification of the moral force of our judicial systems ? As the visitor approaches they will discover that the acanthus leaf pattern ornaments both the precast and the glazing, creating a connection to the iconic Corinthian columns at the entry to the U.S. Supreme Court — an interpretation in modern materials that connects to the best traditions of American justice."
· SOM Will Design the Civic Center's New Federal Courthouse [Curbed LA]
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