Porterville Courthouse

Completed in 2013, the South County Justice Center in Porterville, California is a 95,200 sf LEED Silver certified building designed by CO Architects of Los Angeles. Notable features include a large shaded courtyard, providing a comfortable gathering area for the community, nine daylit courtrooms, and large expanses of glass that connect the interior circulation pathways with the courtyard and assist in way finding through the building. The student team conducted a building performance study on the daylighting and electric lighting conditions throughout the courthouse and found the design is very sensitively designed to orientation, lighting, shadow, and needs of the users.