The Challenge:
Revitalizing acoustics in the modern courthouse to deliver a better building, serving the needs of a diverse community.
The Innovation:
Historically, courthouses were grand, prominent places in a community but today they are often oppressive spaces with little natural light and poor natural room acoustics. Our goal for the Thunder Bay Consolidated Courthouse was to restore the grandness of the courts, while meeting all of today’s technical and acoustical requirements such as incorporating an A/V system. Part of the project also included designing the courthouse with First Nations cultural traditions in mind that met the technical requirements – including the circular Aboriginal Conference Settlement Suite. Now the entire courthouse is filled with light, and the acoustics are excellent whether the A/V system is being used or not. This project has set an example of what modern day courthouses could, and should, be. Aercoustics won the Canadian Consulting Engineer Award of Excellence for acoustic design of this project.
