Craig W. Hartman, FAIA, Design Partner at SOM's San Francisco office, presented the new United States Courthouse at an Academy of Architecture for Justice - Bay Area lecture at AIA San Francisco. The courthouse will be located on a prominent block in downtown Los Angeles. The design has a strong civic presence rooted in classic principles and sustainable strategies. Targeted to achieve LEED Platinum, the courthouse uniquely responds to its location. The building is aligned with the street grid, which is rotated 38 degrees from a true north/south axis, while the planes of its folded glass curtainwall are rotated to achieve a north/south orientation. Planes facing the sun are embedded with a solar screen, while those facing away from the sun are transparent, maximizing views and reducing solar heat gain by 47%. The building's innovative structural concept suspends the cubic volume above its stone base resulting in an artful and effective response to earthquakes and the threat of blast.