Project Overview
For more than a century, the Charles R. Jonas Federal Courthouse has stood as an iconic symbol of Neoclassical Revival architecture in the heart of downtown Charlotte, N.C. While the building has served various purposes for the public through the years—including as a U.S. Post Office—its primary function has been as a courthouse. With the facility beginning to show signs of age, officials with the General Services Administration initiated a modernization project to include upgrades to the existing courthouse along with the addition of a new, eight-story, 198,000-ft2 annex. Honoring the building’s history while modernizing its form and functionality was achieved with more than 800 architectural precast concrete products, including wall panels, balconies, cornices, and more. Wells, in partnership with Jenkins Peer Architects, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, and blast engineer Thornton Tomasetti, collaborated to breathe new life into the courthouse, helping to ensure the continued revitalization of Charlotte’s central business district.
Bridging Past and Future with Precast Concrete
One of the project’s primary challenges was constructing the eight-story annex to pay homage to the building’s past. Early in the design process, limestone was considered, as it would provide a direct match with the original structure. However, this approach was quickly deemed infeasible due to cost, schedule, and aesthetic limitations. As the project team considered alternatives, precast concrete rose to the top as a cost-effective solution that would closely simulate the texture and tone of the original building. According to Rob Hsin, principal for Jenkins Peer Architects, the decision to specify precast concrete for the courthouse offered numerous advantages.
“Ultimately, we decided to use precast concrete as our cladding because it was a great aesthetic and tactile match to limestone, and it was able to significantly contribute to the courthouse’s blast-protection requirements,” he says. “Creating a complementary cladding material next to the historic limestone courthouse was simplified greatly through the ability to customize textures and colors with precast concrete. The ability to make custom and simple adjustments to the thickness of the precast panels in strategic locations allowed us to meet the blast-proofing needs of the building easily and economically.”
Achieving the necessary blast resistance on the project required ample innovation. The design team developed a proprietary slotted connection system specifically engineered to meet the extreme structural loads associated with the blast-resistance criteria. Standard systems could not meet these demands, prompting Wells Concrete’s in-house engineering team to devise custom hardware that satisfied both structural and constructability goals. Additionally, the team successfully integrated embedded anchorage for full-height, blast-resistant curtain wall systems within the precast concrete panels. Coordination required precise reinforcement layouts and tight dimensional tolerances to support field installation of the curtain wall without compromising the façade’s visual continuity or performance.
Beyond aesthetic and structural considerations, sustainability and environmental performance were critical to the project’s design, in part due to the U.S. government’s stringent targets. Thanks in part to the use of precast concrete products, the courthouse achieved both LEED Gold and SITES Silver certifications—an uncommon dual accomplishment for buildings in the federal inventory. Additional sustainability strategies included high-efficiency heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems; reduction of construction waste; and the decision to use durable, regional low-maintenance materials, including precast concrete, that support long-term environmental performance.
Through close coordination, custom engineering, and a commitment to design excellence, the precast concrete system served as a cornerstone of the project’s success. In the end, precast concrete provided significant cost savings over traditional limestone, with faster installation, enhanced durability, and accelerated construction, while also meeting blast-resistance requirements and satisfying all architectural goals.
“This modernization project breathed new life back into the Charles R. Jonas Federal Courthouse, allowing it to maintain the historic continuity of federal architecture in North Carolina’s largest city,” Hsin says. “The selection of the precast concrete cladding guarantees the longevity of the structure and of the federal court system in uptown Charlotte for the next century and beyond.”
Mason Nichols is a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based writer and editor who has covered the precast concrete industry since 2013. |