"It was clearly designed by a man' Glass staircase leaves women exposed

'It was clearly designed by men': Glass staircase in $105m new courthouse leaves women open to prowling eyes from below

By MARK DUELL

Last updated at 4:12 PM on 10th June 2011

Watch out, ladies - as one courthouse has taken legal transparency a little too far in a design disaster.

Anybody walking up a glass staircase opened in a brand new $105million courthouse in Franklin County, Ohio, can be viewed from underneath.

That means female court officials in robes and any woman walking up the courthouse stairs in a dress or skirt risks surprising people standing below.

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Transparent: Anybody walking up a glass staircase opened in a brand new $105million courthouse in Franklin County, Ohio, can be viewed from underneath

‘I wear dresses (under my robes) because that's my personal choice,’ Franklin County Judge Julie Lynch told WBNS-10TV in Central Ohio.

‘When you stand under the stairwell, you can see right up through them.’

Court officials at the 32-room building are discussing what to do about it and are currently warning women they can be viewed from underneath.

Dress problems: Judge Lynch said the courthouse must have been designed by men and you cannot rely on people to be mature about the issue

Judge Lynch said the courthouse must have been designed by men and you cannot rely on people to be mature about the issue.

Attorney Lori Johnson regularly visits the courthouse and is concerned about the use of camera phones from below.

‘Next thing you know, you're on the Internet,’ she told WBNS-10TV.  ‘(It) sounds like a lawsuit in the making.’

See-through: Court officials in robes and any other women walking up the 32-room courthouse stairs in dresses risk surprising people standing below

The courthouse only opened on Monday, but Judge Lynch claims architects failed to consider half of the population in their stairs design.

'Men designed it - they had no women input on this, that's what I thought,' she said.

County facilities management officials have not yet commented.

New building: The Franklin County courthouse has also had problems with police radio signals, mobile phone reception and wireless internet

This is not the first problem to plague the courthouse.

Problems with reception for police radios in January delayed its opening by five months - and were eventually solved by a $500,000 upgrade.

But wireless internet services will not be available in most of the building for another month, reported the Columbus Dispatch.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2002171/Glass-staircase-105m-new-courthouse-leaves-women-open-seen-below.html#ixzz1OyNx22FT