Honoring former District of Columbia Superior Courts Chief Judge H. Carl Moultrie, the courthouse is the largest on Judiciary Square. The expansion and occupied renovation encompassed an 82,000-sq-ft extension and shifting part of the building facade 36 ft closer to C Street. The existing C Street facade was replaced with a steel-framed expansion installed over auger cast piles, requiring an extensive sheeting and shoring installation for support undertaken on a tight site loaded with existing utilities and open public spaces. The team revitalized 226,000 sq ft of existing space and integrated it with the existing building—improving circulation, adding accessible intake counters and office space. The new building envelope showcases limestone masonry complemented by energy-efficient, bullet-resistant windows and an extensive cantilevered curtain wall system.

The $128-million project was completed in about eight years, at budget and on schedule. It includes multi-defendant criminal courtrooms, holding facilities, prisoner circulation corridors and a lobby incorporating work by a local artist.