Builders of a glass-sheathed Florida college building—topped by a 250-ft-long skylight shading system with 94 louvered arms that raise and lower to track the sun—say they could not have successfully executed the unusual design without intense consultant-contractor cross-pollination. The $60-million building nearing completion in Lakeland, designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, is on time and on budget thanks to the teamwork, they say.
Designed as the signature element of Florida Polytechnic University's still-emerging campus, the 162,000-sq-ft Innovation, Science and Technology Building (IST) stretched the team's envelope of experience. "Every corner we turned, there was something that required close attention," says Joey Ottman, with Alfonso Architects, the project's Tampa-based architect of record.