Abstract

The Ministry of Justice is carrying out various renovations on the existing building stock, which are necessary both for the purposes of the buildings themselves, their modernization, as well as for the new needs of users. It also invests in buildings that were previously used for other activities or in new buildings, the most important of which is the construction of the New Courthouse in Ljubljana.

The project will analyze examples of proposed renovations and constructions of court buildings in relation to the existing building fund of judicial authorities in our country and in countries in which the exercise of judicial power is comparable and which are at the same time widely recognized for their more visible achievements in the field of sustainable design of court space, both for employees and for the public, with the possibility of transferring discussed elements, concepts, models, guidelines in other countries to our space. After analyzing the cases, guidelines for the quality design of modern court architecture will be prepared for individual typical court rooms (judge offices, registrar's offices, hearing rooms, land registry, etc.) and courts as a whole (public, business part, etc.). The project will also analyze the criteria for arranging business premises for the needs of users of the state budget, determined by the decision of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia no. 35200-3/2018/9 of 30 August 2018 and the project will propose additions and changes to the criteria for premises used by judicial authorities.

The goal of the project is, among other things, to standardize the system approach of universal planning and design for everyone on the examples of judicial buildings with the help of various architectural and mobility solutions. In this way, functionally disabled persons and everyone else can be provided with friendly courts and other judicial facilities, and the researched systemic approach can also be transferred to other public spaces. The research will be based on a review of good practices here and abroad. Based on the research, guidelines will be drawn up, which will be the basis for further procedures in renovations or new constructions of buildings of judicial authorities.

Universal construction and universal design is an important part of the task, as following the principles of universality in the construction and design of spaces enables access to public facilities and services that they offer to every person, regardless of their disability or any other personal circumstances. Universal design and universal construction refers to a wide range of design and construction of buildings and environments for the use of all people regardless of physical abilities. The term was coined by architect Ronald L. Mace, and the concept was pioneered by Selwyn Goldsmith, author of the book Designing for the Handicapped, in which he introduced ramp access over curbs for the disabled.

All the results of the activities described below are important for the realization of the project's goals, which are:

•     Enable conditions for mobility and inclusion of vulnerable, functionally disabled persons as equal members of society.
•     To ensure quality services of judicial authorities for all citizens, regardless of any functional disability.
•     Obtain proposals for systemic problem solving, suitable also for other public facilities.