Kalamazoo Juvenile Home

The new Juvenile Home Facility for Kalamazoo County is a secure, residential detention housing facility. The facility has 64 beds and has the capability of expanding to 80 beds in the future. It also has education and treatment services for youth.

This project was sequenced to accommodate operation of the existing juvenile home and circuit court while the new home was constructed.  Successful management of site logistics and parking were critical factors to ensure the County’s current operations were maintained.  The physical site characteristics created challenges in that the facility was built into an existing hillside, and on the site of existing parking serving the existing facilities. 

The new home is a multi-story facility, with  a single story on Humphrey Street with a two story façade and main entrance on Gull Road.  The physical characteristics include a steel and masonry structure, with pre-cast plank, brick veneer and metal panel walls and a standing seam metal roof.  There are multiple skylights throughout the facility offering natural day-lighting.  Movement through the building is controlled by a technologically advanced, fully integrated security system, comprised of visual monitoring and physical control of personnel movement and access through the building.  All of this is controlled from a remote monitoring center.  An equally advanced building information system was provided to monitoring and control of the mechanical and electrical systems serving the facility.  Finally, the facility is linked by a semi enclosed walkway to the existing Circuit Court building.