Harris County Jury Plaza

Houston’s push to create a greener, more beautiful city was the inspiration that led us to develop ingenious solutions for the new underground Harris County Jury Plaza construction.

The entrance to the plaza is a garden pavilion, while the bulk of the Jury Assembly building sits above ground, with a domed glass ceiling letting in natural light and providing the complex with a sense of openness. To complete this complex project, we had to plan carefully, particularly when it came to waterproofing the facilities, which are located within Houston’s water table. We implemented a number of quality control measures, including electronic leak detection and testing in all of the rooms and tunnels. To ensure we had the most watertight building possible, we had six people monitor the progress daily. We also coordinated closely with our client and local building managers and completed exhaustive preplanning prior to connecting the utilities for the new facility. We brought the utilities online in phases to avoid any disruption in services to neighboring buildings and had temporary air and power equipment available in case of an emergency. Happily, the temporary equipment wasn’t needed.

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