Bringing public safety and judicial services to remote communities through innovative modular design

Modular Courthouses

For the rural communities of northern Alberta, accessing services can be difficult. To provide local access to courthouse services, we worked with Alberta Infrastructure to design modular courthouses that could be easily transported to remote communities and minimize the cost of construction.

This $12.5 million project presented challenges beyond the usual in building design and construction: How do you incorporate the specific needs of a courthouse into a modular and transportable structure, with restraints on the maximum size and weight of each component?  With a multidisciplinary approach, we created the three-dimensional puzzle pieces that became four courthouses with the form, and function, befitting the importance of their role in the community.   

Courthouses are often the most prominent buildings in small communities and their presence a source of pride. These modular structures not only look the part of a courthouse, importantly, they also physically place the role and function of the judiciary in communities.