ARCHITECTS SELECTED FOR NEW JAIL, LOCATION STILL PENDING
would entail, Tardibono said. In addition, he said Rees Associates understands what CJAC was trying to accomplish with the new facility related to diversion programs and mental health treatment. “No one in Oklahoma has built a jail this size. It’s been quite a while since Tulsa built theirs. So, there is really no local expertise that can do a project of this size. It was pretty clear that the partnership of HOK and Rees would give us the local flavor that was critical, along with the national expertise that was necessary,” Tardibono said. The next step for the architects is to assist the oversight committee in selecting one of the 10 proposed sites for the new detention center. Some news outlets last month reported the oversight committee has targeted August as its deadline to recommend a site location. “August is a good goal because now we have the architects on board that can help run issues to ground. They will be able to say parcel A is better than parcel B for these reasons. Ultimately, the commissioners will have to decide the final location,” he said.
Rendering of the OK County Jail’s proposed minimum security area.
It’s been one year since Oklahoma County voters approved a $260 million bond to build a new county detention center. Since then, a citizen’s oversight committee has been selected and a pair of architects have been hired: HOK and Rees Associates. HOK has locations scattered across the globe with the detention center team based out of Dallas and Austin, while Rees Associates is a well-respected Oklahoma City-based firm. Timothy Tardibono, executive director for the county Criminal Justice Advisory Council, said the idea all along was to hire both a national and local architectural firm. “HOK has extensive experience building correctional facilities, which is a big plus because Oklahoma County did not have that experience when the current facility was built 30 years ago,” Tardibono said. “Rees has designed related buildings, like the Diversion Hub that is going to start soon for MAPS 4, as well as the ReMerge campus. So, they have experience in the justice space.” HOK had completed a study on the new jail a few years ago and understood the challenges the project Rendering of the OK County Jail’s proposed medium security area.
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