T ho says big government has to be boring? The United States Courthouse in San Antonio proves that justice isn't blind, by introducing a pleasing shape to an otherwise unpleasant place. The courthouse is round, and on its shady side covered with glass panels that face an open plaza. White columns separate from the building and appear to hold the roof up, though it is unlikely they serve any real structural support function. They do, however serve to welcome visitors into an otherwise sterile environment by embracing them before they realize how close they are to the building. Overall, a surprisingly innovative design for a government building.
David Anthony Richelieu
December 11th, 2001
The U.S. Courthouse in San Antonio was the Confluence Theater that was the U.S. Pavilion at HemisFair, the 1968 World's Fair in San Antonio. It showed the film "Us" that explored the good and bad of American society. The show began in 1,000-seat theaters showing old films. Each had a propeller plane take off and the screen went dark, the noise turned to a jet engine roar and at the crash of cymbals we were flying in the clouds facing a screen that covered the entire back wall of the building. What had been three theaters became one as the walls lifted out of sight in the darkness. The rest of the film had one huge 180-degree image or three images divided by thin splits between the screens. But it was amazing to suddenly find yourself in a huge 3,000 seat theater after being in the smaller ones. The building was recycled into a courthouse named for the federal judge killed at his home here by actor Woody Harrelson's father.
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New York, United States
David Anthony Richelieu