New European Court of Human Rights
Strasbourg, France
Richard Rogers

The European Court of Justice serves an international public. Greivances from most members of European nations are heard and solved by this court. This is perhaps one justification for the radical design solution created by Richard Rogers. The European Court bears no semblance of the traditional courthouse. The building is clad entirely in steel and glass, with a small portion of concrete on the exterior walls. The stone lobby may be the only opulent material used, while coloration with primary colors help to spruce up the building.The parti of the building was developed in a response to the site and functional requirements of the program. The core elements were grouped together at the head, while the supporting functions form the tail of the structure. The head is a circular drum consisting of the courts and library  while the foot is a long curving tail filled with administration offices.  Growth of supporting functions can thus be accomodated by the lengthening the tail. The curve of the tail reflects the curve of the nearby Ill river.

The entrance is located within the cylindrical drum. Within the entrance lobby are located the main circulation routes. Plaintiffs, defendants and counsel use floating spiral stairs or glass elevators, while the judges use separate bridges leading to deliberation chambers and private offices. 

Efforts to make the project environmentally responsive have resulted in the inclusion of the following ocmponents;

-naturally ventilated office façade with an external sun blind.
-concrete planting boxes along the facades and planted rooftops.
-natural lighting of major rooms.
-air conditioning of major rooms by the use of heat exchangers using ground water some 10 meters below the site.

While Futagawa reports in GA document that the building " is a desire for the transparency of justice,…..a building that seeks to be in harmony with its immediate environment whilst giving a powerful civic image for the town of Strasbourg and the institution itself.", Architectural Record’s Hugh Aldersey-Williams states more convincingly that " the building….bears little resemblance to a traditional court, whether this makes it more approachable remains to be seen. It still has the imposing bulk of official architecture and justice literally hangs heavy in the air as you walk beneath the cantilevered court-room drums into the glass lobby."  This concept of the courthouse seems too industrial to convince one of its civic symbolic duty.