U.S. Courthouse Annex

This 165,000 gsf new building adds three new District Courtrooms, three bankruptcy courtrooms and two magistrate courtrooms along with their associated chambers and office space to the existing Federal Building and Courthouse in Historic Savannah. The original 1898 / 1931 building is also undergoing a full scale restoration/renovation to bring it up to current life safety and court planning standards. It will adjoin the existing building via a tunnel below Whitaker Street that will connect to the proposed central atrium in the existing building. The proposed Annex is a free standing, four story building with its entrance centered on Telfair Square. The annex will also be connected to the existing Juliette Gordon Low Federal Building to the South which will accommodate secure parking and prisoner access for the three building complex.

The massing of the Annex adopts the same strategy as the original courthouse. Shallow corner pavilions recall the trust lots which were set aside for civic buildings in Savannah's 1733 master plan; the primary reading is of a continuous building wall scaled to relate to the square as a whole. The Whitaker Street side of the Annex also reflects the existing U.S. Courthouse approach by forming a "U" shaped massing to the rear of the building enclosing an interior courtyard/atrium space. The side elevations (York and State Streets) are handled in the same manner as the front elevation with corner pavilions connected by a continuous building wall. The building mass is divided into a base, middle, and top in the classical tradition, as is the existing U.S. Courthouse. The entire building will be of Georgia Marble with a banding of honed Cherokee White Georgia Marble and textured Solar Grey Georgia Marble on the first two floors and honed Cherokee White Georgia Marble on the third and fourth floors. The building is accented by shallow arched recesses on the third floor and an attic story with coffered eave overhang supported by metal brackets. The classical detailing of the Annex building is related to that of the existing building, but a new expression for familiar elements is provided in keeping with new techniques of quarrying and construction. The roof material is an "S" shaped clay roofing tile to match the profile of the existing U.S. Courthouse.