The designers of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Justice Center have won a 2021 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Architecture Award for their work on the 93,000-square-foot building at the heart of the Community’s legal operations.

Architectural firm Gould Evans and SRPMIC Engineering & Construction Services share the award, which recognizes how the Justice Center’s design reinforces the deep-rooted traditions of the Community’s culture and provides stress relief due to the nature of visitors’ experiences throughout the judicial process.

Daniel Angulo, CCM, SRPMIC Engineering & Construction Services senior project manager, said, “The designers strived to make a positive connection between the land and the indoor spaces to provide a therapeutic and calming environment for the visitors and staff. They employed daylighting, views to outdoor landscaped spaces, and views to the Community to accomplish that goal.”

During the design process, the Gould Evans design team focused on sustainability by creating a building that would stand the test of time and make a strong connection to the environment through conservation of resources with greater energy efficiency, water-saving strategies, use of local materials and focusing the center of the building on the outdoor courtyard.

“This approach transformed the normatively fortified ‘court’ typology by imbedding landscape at the center, honoring the importance of land and its resources,” said the Gould Evans design team in a statement to O’odham Action News. “We would like to thank the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community for working with our team on an engaged process that merges Western court design goals with Indigenous sustainable systems.”