The new Palace of Justice in Kuwait by PACE is currently under construction. Al-Diwan Al-Amiri plans for the project to include a 25-story building with 123 courtrooms, as well as both automated and conventional parking for 3000 cars. The Palace is designed to be a "symbol of fairness and integrity" for Kuwait.
Six years ago Susan Szenasy and I had the honor of interviewing Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer for Metropolis magazine. While he was a federal appeals judge in Boston, Breyer played a key role in shepherding the design and construction of the John Joseph Moakley United State Courthouse, designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. In 2011 Justice Breyer joined the jury of the Pritzker Prize. Given his long involvement with architecture, I thought it would be fun to catch up with him. So, on the final day of court before breaking for the summer recess, I talked to Justice Breyer about his experience as a design client, how to create good government buildings, and why public architecture matters.
