Durham seeks ideas, questions about courthouse

DURHAM -- People with questions or opinions about plans for Durham's new courthouse will be able to share them with the county's engineering department at a meeting Thursday, July 24.

The public session will run from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the main auditorium of the Durham County Main Library, 300 N. Roxboro Road.

Construction of the 11-story building begins December 2009. The $100 million courthouse is scheduled to open in 2012.

The project, which includes a six-story parking deck, is currently in the design phase.

The Durham County Justice Center will house the Superior and District Courts, clerk of the court's office and sheriff's office. It will fill about half the block defined by Mangum, Dillard and Roxboro streets.

The new courthouse will be more than triple the size of the current judicial building.

Its signature elements will include a glass-walled stairwell shooting up one corner of the building, one of several glass components that take advantage of natural daylight.

A grassy plaza will provide a place for visitors to congregate and employees to take lunches. A downward-sloping pedestrian bridge will connect the courthouse and parking deck.