Litchfield Judicial District Courthouse
Building Enclosure Consultation
Connecticut Building Congress Project Team Award, First for New Construction; Project Team of the Year Award
From 1752 to 2017, the Litchfield county and, later, judicial district courthouse was situated in the town of Litchfield, Connecticut. In the intervening 275 years, the needs of the district evolved, and it had outgrown the historic building. Demands for improved accessibility, technology, energy performance, building code compliance, and the everyday functional needs of an active courthouse compelled Litchfield to commission a new facility in Torrington, which would serve as the seat of the judicial district court.
Design-build firm KBE Building Corporation undertook construction of the new Litchfield Judicial District Courthouse, a 173,000-square-foot L-shaped building, comprised of a three-story a south wing and four-story north wing, as well as an attached two-story parking structure with more than 200 spaces. Consolidating services from three existing area courthouses, the modern new facility has eight courtrooms and two hearing rooms, with a private circulation system for staff and prisoner movement to protect public safety.
Hoffmann Architects + Engineers joined the design-build team as the building enclosure consultant to provide peer review and construction observation services for the new courthouse. Our design professionals worked with the team to detail facade materials interfaces, advise on air barrier detailing, and consult on roof system installation. As exterior envelope specialists, Hoffmann’s architects and engineers had extensive experience with the type of construction: brick veneer exterior walls with cast stone accents, with continuous cavity wall insulation and air barrier membranes. Window, storefront, and curtain wall assemblies each required a distinct set of installation details, as did the single-ply TPO roof membrane on a sloped concrete deck.
Hoffmann’s design professionals reviewed the contract documents related to the building enclosure and submitted to the design-build team recommendations to improve or revise architectural details, particularly those that involved material interfaces. Additionally, our design professionals conducted site visits during construction to observe and advise on these details.
Recognized with the Connecticut Building Congress Project Team Award, the Litchfield Judicial District Courthouse project brought together design and construction professionals with distinctive expertise, as well as community members and stakeholders. As a result, the new courthouse was enthusiastically welcomed by the local neighborhood and by the larger county it represents.
