Neues Justizgebäude - Nouveau palais de justice

Any new architectural addition to the city of Lille has to address the past, the present and the future. That is even more true on the site of Vauban’s former fortifications – used in Lille as a zone where modernity can be organized without damaging the city.

The location for the new courthouse is emblematic for this Lille urban landscape: green run through by motorways (future boulevards) rich in open air activity with few memories of Vauban’s geometries. This condition has triggered our project: a colorful multifaceted object that is able to address any number of different clues and elements from the past and the contemporary world.

Internally, the base of the building accommodates the public and the major courtrooms. From that base, a central triangular tower rises where all the minor courtrooms are concentrated. This center is surrounded by a facetted ring of offices that floats above the base, giving the entire object an effect of elegance and lightness, in spite of the seriousness of its function and role in the society.

The interiors or each of the building’s components are conceived to make all the procedures of justice accessible, even inviting, free of the intimidation that has traditionally been the main characteristic of the architecture of justice.

© OMA