Delaware County Courthouse Ohio Earns AIA WV Design Award

Delaware County, Ohio is the fastest growing population in the state of Ohio. This explosive growth, in addition to similarly increasing court caseloads and the recent addition of a new Domestic Relations Court Judge, necessitated the design and construction of a new courthouse on the county seat’s judicial campus exclusively for county court operations.

The new 160,000 square foot courthouse includes administrative office departments for the Clerk of Courts, Adult Court Services, and the Common Pleas Court. The upper levels include three large courtrooms and six hearing rooms with supporting judges’ chambers, jury deliberation and administrative spaces. The third floor accommodates a grand jury room, as well as jury queuing and assembly spaces. A below grade parking garage supports protected judges’ and staff parking as well as provides access to secure vertical circulation cores to the floors above. The garage also houses an inboard sallyport with central holding that offers isolated secure elevator transport of detainees to intermediate holding cells between the court sets. A secondary staff entry at grade graciously connects the neighboring county administration building inhabitants to secure staff circulation paths within the new courthouse.

Through in-depth reviews with the local historic preservation committee and zoning commissions, the design concept responds with an elegantly meshed contextual nod to the overall Italianate style of historic Delaware while stepping into a modernized composition of progressive materials and forms on the exterior.