Rafael Díaz-Balart Hall

The design of the 162,000-square-foot FIU Law School creates a home and an identity for a major new initiative at the University: new professional degree program. The Law School terminates a major new axis of the University, the Avenue of the Professions, with a three story high entry portico surmounted by an abstracted version of a Greek tholos that acts as a new symbol for the School.

Public and student areas including courtrooms, classrooms and seminar rooms, lounges, student lockers, and a 500 seat registrar's classroom are located on the ground floor and in the eastern wing in close proximity to the main entry. Faculty and staff offices, as well as suites for the Dean and administration, are located on the second floor and along the south and west sides of the building with a separate entry from the west. A 50,000-square-foot, three story Law Library will be located on the north side of the building with separate access so that it may remain open independently from the rest of the building.

The three programmatic divisions surround two courtyards that serve as the heart of the school in the pragmatic tradition of ventilated courtyard buildings of South Florida, Latin America, and Spain. Each courtyard is ringed by a covered ambulatory carefully proportioned to create an inviting place for movement and contemplation. The southern courtyard is more formal, organized around a central fountain, and the northern courtyard is more relaxed and free flowing. The courtyards keep the building's floor plates narrow, allowing more natural light to enter, lowering internal lighting costs, and providing exterior windows for the many offices and open administrative areas within the School. On the south and west faces of the building, louvered screens mediate the powerful tropical sun.

The teaching courtrooms, classrooms, and seminar rooms, are equipped with state of the art computer and audio visual systems that offer great flexibility to instructors. Both wireless and wired computer connections are available throughout the library, along with electronic classrooms and support for mobile and fixed connections. While technologically advanced, the building also provides an environment that will help the school make the long and great traditions of the law and legal education relevant to a new and forward looking generation of scholars and students.