Israel
Longitudinal section
Lair Courts Building in Tel-Arir Architects: Z. and Y. Rechter, M. Zarhy Structural Engineer: M. Peri Assistant Architect: J. Ventura Sculptor: D. Karavan
Main entrance floor
"Willifl "r ' < The building consists of magistrate court, regional court and adjacent services for the Tel-Aviv area.
It was designed to house these institutions which were dispersed in various parts of the city.
This scheme is a result of a first prize in an architectural competition carried out in 1959.
The site is part of a new civic centre of Tel-Aviv to be realized in the near future, which will also consist of a museum, a municipal library and other cultural edifices.
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The building is divided physically into three main blocks, two of which rise above the third, a large structure containing the various general services. The magistrate court is housed in a square three floor block with a central courtyard. The regional court is housed in a relatively small six floor block at the northern end of the site.
Functionally, there is a clear division between courtrooms and offices in each department. The offices of the magistrate court and of the regional court are located in a mezzanine floor right above the lower block and below the floors containing courtrooms only. There is a separate communication system to each of the court blocks, which meet only at ground floor level at the large entrance hall.
An important requirement was to segregate completely between three systems of communication: Public, judges and prisoners. Public communication uses a system of elevators and stairs, starting at the entrance hall and leading to the various waiting spaces. Judges traffic is directed from separate entrances at both ends of the building into stairs and elevators which lead them to entirely separate corridors, each of which serves two floors. From these corridors the judges can reach their offices and the courtrooms by systems of half floor flights of stairs. This communication system was achieved by creating every two floors as a unit which in the waiting hall areas is divided to three floors, the judges corridor being the middle one. The prisoners are brought to the building through a closed courtyard and down into a small day-prison in the basement. From this basement a system of corridors leads to a number of elevators rising to the various courtroom levels, each elevator serving a couple of criminal court with an access directly to the prisoner’s bench.
This building is constructed as a reinforced concrete structure with the exposed concrete being its primary material inside and out. Coffered concrete ceilings, staircases, walls and elevator shafts are all treated as a unified material. In various parts the concrete was treated in relief with symbols and quatations cast into the concrete as a result of collaboration with an artist (D. Karavan). The interior of the courtrooms has oak panelling and furniture.
The total area of the building is 21,000 sq. m., with 68 courtrooms. The courtrooms and the judges offices have airconditioning whereas the other offices are only heated.
Photos: I. Percal
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