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Bridgeport Superior Court for Juvenile Matters and Detention Center recently opened in an underdeveloped area of Bridgeport, Conn., a multicultural city located on the water of Long Island Sound in the southern part of Connecticut. BVH Integrated Services, Inc., served the state of Connecticut as the structural engineer for construction of the project.

The $54 million, 92,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art complex is a new facility built to serve the needs of troubled youth in the state of Connecticut and consolidate social services, youth housing, and judicial space into one campus. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell remarked, "This is much more than a ceremony for the opening of another state building, this is a place that recognizes the difference between juvenile justice and adult court, and the nuanced approaches that are required in turning around the lives of young people who have made serious mistakes."

The new facility replaced an abandoned 100-year-old asbestos-laden trolley barn and consists of two new buildings connected by a sally port: a 38,000-square-foot, two-story courthouse and a 54,000-square-foot, three-story detention center. The architectural/engineering team of BVH Integrated Services, JCJ Architecture/Ricci Greene Associates surmounted several structural challenges to design a successful building despite poor bedrock and soil conditions, high floodplain and water table, and a 100-year-old asbestos-laden trolley barn.

Project description
The courthouse features two courtrooms, a hearing room, and office space for court personnel, attorneys, probation officers, and state services. The entry lobby to the court building is two stories tall with floor-to-ceiling windows and a second floor corridor overlooking this space. A sloping roof above the main roof level allows for high ceilings in the court rooms and hearing room.

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