The original courthouse, designed for 50,000 residents, struggled to serve the county's current population of over 420,000. Additionally, soil tests revealed that the ground beneath the building—just a few feet from the Willamette River—could liquefy during an earthquake.

It was time to create a resilient, future-proof facility for Clackamas County. Design for the 240,000+ square foot courthouse complies with the Oregon Green Energy Technology program and earned LEED Gold Certification. The building features a two-story public lobby; jury assembly/administration/office space; 14 courtrooms, judicial chambers, secure loading and staging areas, and holding facilities. There is a private corridor system with access to all courtrooms and support spaces away from public zones.

For this project, the floor plate allowed for an optimal column arrangement using a cantilevered slab along one edge, which eliminated one row of columns and saved 80 cubic yards of concrete and 36 tons of rebar.

To minimize slab thickness, the team coordinated a cost-effective formwork solution that reduced the slab thickness by 1 inch for about 75% of the floor plate. Typically, this thickness would be determined based on the design and performance requirements for the longest span then maintained throughout the floor plate to simplify formwork; but this approach focused on material optimization which in turn eliminated approximately 410 cubic yards of concrete.