The University
of South Florida Polytechnic (USFP) has commissioned the acclaimed
architectural firm Santiago Calatrava/Festina Lente Services (FL), Inc.
to design the first building for the school’s new campus in Lakeland,
Fla., and update the campus master plan, University of South Florida
President Dr. Judy Genshaft announced today.
Santiago
Calatrava will design the 100,000 net square foot USFP Science &
Technology building, which will sit on the northernmost corner of the
campus at the intersection of Interstate 4 (I-4) and the Polk Parkway.
The Science & Technology building will be the cornerstone of the new
campus, and will establish the design scheme for all buildings within
phase I of the campus master plan. Groundbreaking is expected late this
year, with a scheduled opening in late summer 2012.
Calatrava is best known for his celebrated designs of bridges,
transportation centers and cultural institutes throughout the world. The
USF Polytechnic facility will be his first design in the southeastern
U.S.
Almost 70 years ago, legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright made his
mark on Lakeland with the Annie Pfieffer Chapel, the first of 10
structures he designed for Florida Southern College and a recent
addition to the World Heritage List. With today’s announcement, the
once-sleepy orange grove town – now at the center of Florida’s High Tech
Corridor – will again be home to internationally acclaimed architecture.
The Calatrava commission follows a Florida Chamber of Commerce statewide
voter survey that showed support for directing more of the state’s
economic resources to fostering talent, rather than relying on tourism
and in-migration for economic development. USF Polytechnic, designated
Florida’s only polytechnic in 2008, focuses on hands-on learning that
cultivates skills in the applied arts and sciences, business and
education.
The USF Polytechnic Vision
Since its founding in 1988, USF Polytechnic has shared a campus with
Polk State College in Lakeland. When complete, the new campus will offer
the space and resources the university needs to expand from its current
4,229 student body to 16,000 students. The prime I-4 location also
affords the university visibility along one of the nation’s most
traveled commercial and tourist routes, the interstate connecting Tampa,
Fla., and Orlando, Fla.
In 2008, University
of South Florida President Dr. Judy Genshaft brought Dr. Marshall
Goodman to Florida as campus executive officer and vice president for
USFP and charged him with transforming the landscape. Goodman sees the
parallels between Central Florida and Silicon Valley, where he served as
provost at San Jose State University. “By developing a world-class
educational facility in the midst of a growing technology corridor that
connects Florida’s largest concentrations of population, we are in fact
transforming the future of Lakeland, Polk County and Central Florida,”
he said.
USF Polytechnic has already exceeded expectations in enrollment and is
the fastest growing of USF’s four regional campuses. USF Polytechnic
currently serves 4,229 students, a 25 percent increase over the prior
year.
“USF Polytechnic is unquestionably the most important economic
development project I have worked on in more than 20 years of service in
our community, and I tell people all the time that it is the most
important project of their lifetimes, as well. USF Polytechnic is an
incredible anchor here in Lakeland and Polk County, and will serve as a
catalyst to attract more high skill/high wage jobs to our region,” said
Steve Scruggs of the Lakeland Economic Development Council.
Goodman added, “This iconic building will be the symbol of a new Polk
County and of a 21st century American university. In polytechnic, we
have a unique model of education and with Calatrava, we will have a
unique symbol that represents that spirit.”
Engaging Calatrava
Following a series of public meetings and presentations to the USFP
Campus Architect Selection Committee, as well as an extensive due
diligence process, world-renowned architect Calatrava was selected in
November 2008 to design the first building on the new USF Polytechnic
campus. With the contractual process now complete, the Calatrava team
will begin work on conceptual designs for the Science & Technology
building, which is projected to cost $45 million and will use a
combination of public and private funding.
Calatrava is an award-winning architect, sculptor and structural
engineer with offices in his hometown of Valencia, Spain; Zurich,
Switzerland; and New York. Since completing his first commission for the
design and construction of Zurich’s Stadelhofen Railway Station in 1983,
Calatrava has received acclaim for his projects, including the Montjuic
Communications Tower in Barcelona, Spain; the Turning Torso in Malmö,
Sweden; the Athens Olympic Sports Center in Athens, Greece; and the
Quadracci Pavilion of the Milwaukee Art Museum in Milwaukee, Wis., his
first project in the United States. Calatrava was commissioned to design
the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub for Lower Manhattan in
late 2003 and has numerous projects in progress throughout cities
worldwide.
Calatrava, a graduate of a polytechnic university in Valencia, said, “I
feel very fortunate to have been chosen to design the Science &
Technology building for the University of South Florida Polytechnic’s
new campus. As an architect and an engineer, I greatly value the schools
of science and technology. It is my goal to create a facility that both
unites and pays homage to these two fields, while providing generations
of students with a state-of-the-art education center in which to learn
and grow.”
On working with Calatrava, USF’s Dr. Genshaft said, “USF is very excited
to work with Santiago Calatrava. With this selection, we have a
visionary, modern architect designing a visionary, modern university.”
Santiago Calatrava/Festina Lente will operate in partnership with
Tampa-based architectural firm Alfonso
Architects on the project.
To watch a video of USF, USFP and Calatrava announcing the design
commission, and download photos and press materials on the new USFP
campus, visit www.poly.usf.edu.
About USF Polytechnic
The University of South Florida Polytechnic, located in Lakeland, Fla.,
is the state’s first and only polytechnic. As an integral part of the
USF system, USF Polytechnic delivers bachelors and masters degrees, as
well as a variety of online, certificate and continuing education
programs. The polytechnic model emphasizes applied learning and research
and intensive collaboration with economic development partners in the
region. Vibrant student life and challenging multi-disciplinary programs
in fields such as information technology, engineering, business and
education provide a distinctive educational experience at the heart of
Florida's High Tech Corridor.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5986349&lang=en
For USFP
Jackson Spalding
Kim Hardcastle, 404-214-0693
khardcastle@jacksonspalding.com
