Miami Dade County, Turner Guilford Knight Pre-Trial Detention Center, Miami, Florida

The HADP goal for the project was to design a state of the art “direct suspension” urban detention center which could safely house detainees and support the large volume of activity in an aesthetically attractive structure that is adjacent to Miami International Airport.

The project involved research and development of the operational program including financial life cycle analysis, complete building programming, design, construction documents, interior furnishings design, and construction administration. The nine-story precast concrete, 425,000 s.f. facility includes 1,000 individual single occupancy rooms and a kitchen with capacity for up to 9,000 meals per day. Sophisticated electronics includes C.C.T.V and electro-mechanical locking devices, extensive use of fiber optics, integrated computerized building energy management system and fire detection system, video court facility via microwave transmission, and central control center with monitoring capability for over 2,000 doors, 200 cameras and all building and independent classroom building. The project includes a full medical facility. The project has been widely featured in publications and received a National American Institute of Architects Citation for an award for Design Excellence in the Architecture for Justice Exhibition. The Miami Chapter of the A.I.A. gave the project an award for Excellence in Design. Project bid within .07% of cost estimate established during programming. This project represents previous David Harper firm experience for which Mr. Harper holds all architectural rights.