Gallery
Description
Located in downtown Las Vegas, the Clark County Detention Center anchors one end of the city’s Justice Mall that includes Cannon Design’s award-winning Lloyd D. George U.S. Courthouse. The center’s 320,000 sf expansion program, adds 1,370 minimum and maximum-security beds to an existing high-rise detention facility. The abstracted facades mask the rugged character of the building, while vertical street walls reflect the neighborhood scale. One edge of the building is set behind a low pedestal, allowing light into administrative offices without sacrificing security. The building facade is enlivened by V-shaped window screens that conceal its function as a prison, blocking views inside, while admitting daylighting.
Distinctions
- California Council of the AIA
- Award of Merit
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“In looking for the answer regarding how to design an urban detention facility that holds its own amid a growing vibrant city core, this facility is it. There are few obvious indicators of its function from the outside. It has an unusual window screening approach, making it very interesting to study.”
- Concrete Masonry Institute
- Honor Award
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“This urban detention center manages to establish a strong civic presence in an extremely difficult project type. The designer has skillfully assembled a complex series of discreet programmatic volumes and the contrasting scales of concrete masonry and precast concrete provide further articulation through changes in scale and detail, while emulating desert colors.”
- AIA State of Nevada
- Honor Award