Hamilton County Coroner Office & Crime Laboratory

Building Architecture- Large Scale (>10,000 sf)

Project Narrative

The new Hamilton County Coroner Office and Crime Laboratory (HCCL) facility provides an elevated level of crime fighting and public health services to Southwest Ohio. The state-of-the-art, modern facility stands in stark contrast to the former facility which housed the HCCL for 30 years, a dark, cramped, outdated facility which did not accommodate the workload, was inflexible for future growth, and provided virtually no daylight as the building included a mere three windows.

The County sought to develop and construct a new, modern crime lab in an easily accessible location, to consolidate operations and enhance the departments' long-term goals. This new, energy-efficient, and light-filled collection of lab, autopsy, office, meeting, and training spaces will propel the County to the forefront of forensic medicine and offer capacity for service growth over the next 30 years.

The 83,500 SF, three-story building is in the walkable, mixed-use, master-planned development of Summit Park in the City of Blue Ash, an inner-ring suburb of the City of Cincinnati. The project is designed to connect visually and physically to the park.
A large, airy entry lobby is designed to greet a variety of visitors in an open and bright environment, accommodating both grieving families and law enforcement/investigation professionals. A 150-person auditorium is adjacent to the lobby and supports the training, investigatory, and community outreach mission of HCCL.

The project is LEED® Silver certified and has been designed to achieve an EUI of 150 by utilizing high-performance mechanical systems with energy recovery, LED lighting with day-lighting controls, and hyper-insulated façade systems with exterior sun-shaded glazing.

Department staff have expressed delight in the new facility and the ways in which the design greatly enhances their workplace experience and the service mission of the Coroner’s Office and Crime Laboratory.