T
he U.S. Courthouse in Alpine was universally admired by this year’s Design Awards jury for its simplicity of form and masterful response to the setting. The courthouse was a product of the U.S. General Service Administration’s Design Excellence Program with PageSoutherlandPage’s Austin office as the architect selected for the project. The design team felt a strong obligation to respond to the climatic extremes of the region and sought inspiration in the rugged beauty of the locale. Initial desires to use local stone collected from adjacent property proved impractical and after a thorough investigation of alternatives, Pecos Red sandstone was ultimately selected as the predominant exterior material. Quarried from nearby pits, the material was an appropriate selection, having been used for generations in important civic structures in the region. Lawrence W. Speck, FAIA, the principal in charge of the project, felt the extremely specialized organizational and heightened security requirements of this building type contributed to a better solution, where key design elements answer both the desire for a regional response and critical security issues requisite to a federal courthouse. The plan, simple in concept, is composed of wings dedicated to the public areas, legal offices, and the
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