New College of Florida Breaks Ground on Academic Center & Plaza
01/26/10
Front elevation, New College of Florida Academic Center, Sarasota, Florida
New College of Florida in Sarasota broke ground on a new Academic Center Building designed by Moule & Polyzoides. The design will be the first building completed based upon Moule & Polyzoides’s 2006 Master Plan for the small, highly regarded institution. The building includes more than 35,000 square feet of faculty offices, classrooms and support space, and will be located near the formal entry to the 110-acre campus.
The building’s significance is not lost on those who know and appreciate the College’s history. Originally established during the early 1960s as an independent honors college, it eventually became part of the University of South Florida, but became independent again in the last decade. Among its first steps after regaining independence was to commission the highly sustainable New College of Florida Master Plan.
The new building will share a common quadrangle, the primary gathering place on campus, with the existing Bancroft Library. Its design reflects vernacular and contemporary tropical architectural influences, including open-air circulation, cross ventilation, deep window recesses, shutters, a metal roof and masonry walls. The building is expected to achieve LEED Gold Certification. The design helps refine the College’s evolving architectural character and is rooted in its academic traditions.
