A multimillion-dollar courthouse in Ohio managed to overlook one rather obvious design problem: women wearing skirts might prefer not to have an audience beneath their feet.
There are architectural mistakes. And then there are architectural mistakes that require a judge to warn women about their underwear.
Back in 2011, a newly opened courthouse in Franklin County, Ohio, found itself confronting an embarrassing problem involving its glass staircase.
The stairs were transparent, meaning anyone standing underneath could potentially see rather more than the judicial system intended.
Judge Julie Lynch (right) was unimpressed.
As the ABA Journal reported, Lynch warned women wearing dresses or skirts that they might be better off using the lift.
The problem was particularly awkward because the courthouse was also used to sentence sex offenders.
Not exactly the ideal setting for an architectural feature offering unexpected views.
Security Guards Get an Unusual Assignment
Court officials acknowledged the problem and began discussing whether the staircase design needed changing.
In the meantime, security guards were reportedly instructed to watch for people attempting to peer upwards through the glass.
One imagines this was not among the duties advertised when they applied for courthouse security work.
The incident, originally reported by the Columbus Dispatch, raised an obvious question about how such a design made it through the planning process without someone considering the practical implications.
Courthouses are supposed to deliver transparency in the administration of justice.
But perhaps not quite this much.
The lesson for courthouse architects? Justice may be blind, but the people standing beneath a glass staircase certainly aren’t.
