During construction of Florida Polytechnic University's $60-million Innovation Science and Technology Building—which more closely resembles a flying saucer than a citadel of learning—the flappable wings ruled. Santiago Calatrava, the designer of the iconic building and its sun-tracking shading system, challenged the building team to remain unflappable while wrestling with the 300,000-sq-ft job's operable rooftop louvers and other complex features, all the time maintaining quality, schedule and budget.

The two-story elliptical-in-plan building is the signature architectural element of the new 171-acre campus for Polytechnic, itself formed in 2012 as Florida's only public university devoted to science, technology, engineering and math. The reinforced concrete structure—which supports 162,000 sq ft of research and teaching laboratories, classrooms, offices, study and support areas, common areas and an amphitheater—is surrounded by a system of 84 connected pergolas that screen the terraces.