Barren County Judicial Center

With funding for a new Judicial Center provided by the Kentucky State Legislature, the Barren County Project Development Board selected the integrity ARCHITECTURE + Silling team to provide site evaluation and full architectural services and engineering services for the design of a landmark justice project in downtown Glasgow. Closely following the space program and design standards established by the Administrative Office of the Courts, preliminary concepts have been developed for the new facility at a prominent site two blocks from the existing courthouse.

The project site – the original downtown hub for tobacco operations – has exciting complexities including a significantly sloping topography, as well as the dichotomy of a pedestrian connection to the historic courthouse square against the public parking areas further removed from the urban core. These contextual forces inform the building siting and program stacking, leading to an organic architectural parti that is responsive and place-specific. Preliminary building coding of the exterior envelope communicates the project’s interior organization and zoning, with public entry, circulation, and pre-function waiting spaces rising out of the northwest corner of the site and stretching along the west façade toward Main Street. The site will be sculpted away, inspired by the world-renown local cave system, and revealing more of the rusticated base of the lower level while allowing for view and protected pedestrian circulation to the entry plaza and pavilion.  The window systems slicing vertically through the upper brick skin of the building call back to long rows of tobacco barns lining Main Street up until the mid-20^th century.  Their verticality is accentuated by sun-shading “fins”, echoing the language of the slotted vents so indicative of the agricultural context of the Barrens.  In its site selection, planning, and preliminary architectural language, the new Barren County Judicial Center marks a new edge and era for the downtown district and presents a relevant and forward-thinking civic identity.