This morning’s Denver Post has an article about the design of the state’s new justice center, to be officially called the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Complex. Click here for a PDF of the article.

The project will occupy the entire block bounded by 14th, Broadway, 13th, and Lincoln and contain two buildings linked together: a 4-story, 150,000 sf courthouse for the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, and a 12-story, 450,000 sf office tower for the Department of Law including the State Attorney General’s office. The project will seek LEED-Gold certification.

Here’s the photograph from the Post article of a model of the new complex (photo by Jason Knowles, Fentress Architects):

Photograph of model of new Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Complex

The courthouse will include a 4-story glass-walled atrium and rotunda at 14th and Lincoln facing the State Capitol. Demolition of the existing Judicial Building and Colorado History Museum is scheduled for May, with construction beginning on the new judicial complex in September. The project will be complete in 2013. I’ll see if I can get some additional images of the project to share with you.

By the way, Ralph L. Carr was Colorado’s governor from 1939-1949 and was one of the few public leaders in the country who openly opposed the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and bravely fought to protect their citizenship and rights as Americans—not a popular thing to do during the war.

It is really exciting to see this project becoming a reality. With construction of the new Colorado History Center underway a block  to the south of the Judicial Complex site, and with all the new things planned at Union Station, the two ends of Downtown Denver will be busy with construction for the next several years.