SITUATION

Constructed more than 55 years ago, the previous courthouse had become one of the most outdated and hazardous courthouses in the country. Plagued with faulty amenities and deemed seismically unsafe, the Superior Court of Los Angeles County was desperately in need of a new facility. Additional concerns included long lineups, overcrowded waiting rooms, enormous energy wastage, and omnipresent audio deficiencies that blurred the listening comprehension of the courthouse staff and visitors. Funded by an entirely new model of public-private sector support, the construction of an eye-catching site would need to reflect the needs of the justice system and the more than 5,000 daily visitors via cutting edge technology, innovative materials, and a head-turning design. With construction set between April 2011 and September 2013, all solutions selected for the structure needed to ensure optimal flexibility in order to adapt on-the-fly to any last minute changes to the AV project scope and priorities.

SOLUTION

Opened in September 2013, California’s first new courthouse in more than 40 years includes 31 courtrooms, administrative departments, offices of related judicial agencies, and approximately 50,000 square feet of commercial office and retail space. To ensure robust audio capabilities throughout the facility, ExhibitOne turned to Biamp’s portfolio of digital signal processing (DSP)-based audio solutions. Using a combination of the company’s award-winning Tesira and Audia digital audio platforms allowed ExhibitOne to use highly customizable options. These included card replacement capabilities to add a variety of features in addition to the versatility of using multiple protocols (AVB, CobraNet, and Dante) in the same system, within a single chassis. This flexibility also ensured efficient audio routing to several rooms on multiple floors in addition to clear paging capabilities. A Tesira SERVER-IO provided the backbone for every courtroom audio system while the integrator installed five Audio EXPI-4 devices coupled with EXPO-4 and EXPI/O-2 units to provide staff members four portable video teleconferencing carts. The jury assembly space also features an NPS-1 to satisfy the room’s paging requirements.

CONCLUSIONS

In addition to its all-encompassing sound system, the courthouse now features modern inmate transfer and detention facilities, new energy efficiency certifications, and improved air quality and ventilation systems that provide thermal comfort throughout the facility without increasing ambient noise. The result is a state-of-the-art courthouse that fully meets the operational functions of a modern-day tribunal and the demands of more than 5,000 daily visitors to the site.