Florida Southern College
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George Cott (website) Download Original
Restoration and repair of Frank Lloyd Wright's 1958 Polk County Science Building, including reconfiguration of internal spaces
The repair of the external envelope and making the building watertight formed the first phase of works. In two further phases, the internal layout was substantially amended, while extensive new services required were arranged so as not to impact on the building's look.
The first floor and central block of accommodation, serving biology and chemistry teaching, have been radically reshaped to provide individual offices for staff, while redundant areas have been removed and the western perimeter reformed to create a continuous run of laboratories along the building's edge.
The second floor level has new internal bridges to assist in easy access, with a further run of laboratories stacked above those on the first floor. The basement level of the building had to be substantially extended to provide the space required for new services. All offices and classrooms are air-conditioned, while laboratories require energy-intensive ventilation.
Inside the building, service ducts are frankly exposed, their gleaming casings contrasting with Wright's solid masonry. Although the addition of new equipment at roof level makes a strong impact on the external appearance of the building, the building is now equipped to cope with future change
Data
- Begun: 1996
- Completed: 2001
- Floor area: 5,574m2
- Sector: Education
- Total cost: £6.8M
- Address: 111 Lake Hollingsworth Drive, Lakeland, Florida, FL 33801, United States
Professional Team
- Architect: John McAslan + Partners
- Project architects: Adam Brown, Andrew Hapgood, Lunz Prebor Fowler, Martin Markcrow, Murray Smith, Roger Wu
- Client: Florida Southern College
- Research & Development: Arup
- Laboratory planning: Earl Walls Associates (San Diego)
- General Contractor: Kvaerner
- Urban Design and Conservation Consultant: Richard Coleman Consultancy
- Structural engineer: Arup
Suppliers
- Roofing: GAF Materials Corp
- Louvres: Greenheck
- Folding wall: Brockhouse Modernfold
- Aluminium Storefront: Kawneer UK Ltd
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