Known for the formal freedom with which it tackles its projects, the Dutch firm Mecanoo has demonstrated more restraint in building the new Palace of Justice of the southern Spanish city of Córdoba. The Delft-based practice has distributed the complex program in a rigorous large prism which, partly renouncing its urban condition, presents itself as succinct towards the street, and so much that not even the expected decoration of the facades manages to cheer it up. The best is to be seen inside: a labyrinth of introverted toplit halls that evoke the tradition of the Cordovan courtyard.