Public Building – First Place – Ada County Coroner’s Office

The expanding population, a “massive” increase in caseloads, evolving staff needs and advances in technology all led to the construction of the Ada County Coroner’s Office, a 39,368-square-foot building featuring cutting-edge labs that can accommodate future needs, individual lab workstations, secure chemical storage areas, modern offices and respite spaces, multipurpose indoor and outdoor spaces for trainings and collaborations and highly efficient mechanical systems with full HEPA filtration.

Since the previous coroner’s office lacked adequate space, electrical capacity, ventilation and other prohibitive functions needed to account for the increasing needs, the new building would address those issues with “a two-story, 40,000-square-foot building with a public lobby, office space for each of the three divisions of the Coroner’s Office, record storage, ample temperature-controlled body and tissue storage, autopsy laboratory facilities, observation space, an enclosed sally port for transporting and investigation, and secured staff parking.”

The global pandemic, supply chain issues and a newly elected coroner all contributed to the challenges the project faced. However, thanks to innovative thinking on the part of the design team, pricing trends and other factors led to a rebid of the project, keeping the size and scope intact while reducing the cost and keeping it within budget.

An outdoor patio, walking paths, a gym and other spaces were among the innovations used in the construction of the coroner’s office. Building materials and systems are meant for low maintenance and energy efficiency, and the mechanical design features chilled beams with four-pipe systems for local temperature monitoring in each office.