Mohave County
66,000 SF
Design Bid Build
Prime Architect
2020
$18M
Project Director
Project Manager
Interior Designer
Mohave County’s new Superior Court is the perfect blend of historical and contemporary design aesthetics, combining leading technology with a time-honored legacy. The design reflects this union of old and new by creating a space meeting the needs of the staff and public, while seamlessly blending into the historical context of the surrounding site.
The new courthouse features six courtrooms, one hearing room, jury deliberation facilities, attorney/client consultation, and detention facilities. The collegial style fourth-floor judicial suite features a large breakroom with breathtaking views of the Hualapai Mountains.
Secure circulation patterns for judges, staff, the public provide enhanced security. The building design invites the public into shared spaces and deters them from entering secure areas, ensuring that staff, judges, and individuals in custody can move safely.
Each courtroom includes a fully automated touch panel system that controls remote appearances. Evidence is directly controlled from the Judge’s bench and lectern. This innovation allows evidence to be presented to the jury in the courtroom for in-person and fully remote hearings. Additionally, each courtroom has three separate entrances for the judicial / court staff, jury, and the public.
This same technology is incorporated into each judicial assistant’s (JA) office, allowing a direct audio feed from any courtroom in the building to the witness rooms, holding cells, and robing rooms.
The distinguishing entry rotunda provides for organized queuing before fully entering the lobby spaces. Court clerks required additional security and visibility to the public. Glass dividers create a sense of privacy, while still allowing visibility. Even furniture choices embody safety with higher stools for clerks, who can sit at eye level with the public, creating a physiologically safer interaction.
Two courtrooms have a viewing window from the holding cells, as well as windows from adjoining conference rooms that allow victims to view court proceedings in a secure area. Centralizing all Judges and JA’s on the fourth floor with break rooms, conference rooms, and lounge areas also increase security while inviting more comradery. Each floor level provides separate, secure circulation areas and elevators for the public staff, and in-custody transport.
Deliberate attention was paid to cost-efficiency and durability when selecting specialty materials. The color palette meets the courthouse’s needs while highlighting the natural beauty of the site. Warm, inviting, and calming neutrals created a soothing ambiance throughout the building. Because visitors and court participants often enter under anxiety-inducing circumstances, the neutral colors promote a calm experience.
Addressing the community’s concern that the new building would overshadow the downtown area and the site’s iconic cypress trees, the design of the new courthouse further accentuates the existing site features and ties into its historical fabric. A refreshed courtyard landscape design connects all three buildings, which are also physically connected via the new glazed bridge. The entry rotunda embraces the past by providing framed views of the campus’s historical features: the old Courthouse, historic jail, and World War II Memorial Statue.
The Mohave County Superior Court is a new 66,000 SF courthouse in Kingman, AZ was completed in 2020. The project was thirty years in the making, fulfilling a long-held vision for a modern judicial facility adjacent to the county’s iconic 1914 historic courthouse. The design blends the historical context of its surroundings with a contemporary, technology-forward approach to justice.
Mohave County Superior Court strengthens DFDG Architecture’s courts and justice portfolio in Kingman, AZ. The courthouse features six courtrooms, one hearing room, jury deliberation facilities, attorney-client consultation spaces, and detention facilities. A collegial fourth-floor judicial suite includes a large breakroom with panoramic views of the Hualapai Mountains.
The facility was designed with separate, secure circulation paths for judges, staff, the public, and individuals in custody , each moving through the building without unnecessary intersection. The layout invites the public into shared spaces while naturally deterring access to secure areas, creating a safer environment for all occupants without requiring heavy-handed physical barriers.
Each courtroom is equipped with a fully automated touch panel system that controls remote appearances and allows evidence to be presented directly from the Judge’s bench and lectern , giving the judge precise control over what the jury sees and when. This technology supports modern court operations, including virtual proceedings.
DFDG Architecture designed the Mohave County Superior Court. The project reflects DFDG’s experience with civic, municipal, and courts facilities that require secure circulation, public access, and long-term operational durability.