The Challenge:
To develop acoustic guidelines for Regional Courthouses in Alberta that would serve as the basis of design for any new courthouse or courtroom in the province while ensuring that solid natural acoustics work with the technological requirements for today’s courts rather than fight with them.
The Innovation:
We had to clearly outline the performance requirements while being flexible for future use. We heard firsthand the challenges that justice personnel had with respect to the existing courts, and this became the backbone for the design to ensure that these issues could be documented, and clear design targets established to address concerns. By reviewing the latest literature and using the success of lessons learned through the Thunder Bay courthouse, we were able to create a document that relied on the latest in acoustical theory while allowing for flexibility in the design.
