Project Activity Posts
PSC Chain of Lakes Building Completed
Straughn Trout Architects is proud to continue its partnership with Polk State College (PSC) as the selected architect for the Chain of Lakes Building on the Winter Haven Campus. This new 15,000 square foot administration and classroom building will provide a permanent home for the PSC Chain of Lakes High School. The project is the first new building on the Winter Haven Campus in over ten years. As designers of the Campus Master Plan and architects of all buildings, Straughn Trout has provide a design that is "high-tech" and sustainable while complimenting the adjacent campus structures. This project is designed according to the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Schools v2009 requirements, and will be the first building in Polk County to be certified under these standards.
More Information:
www.polk.edu
www.colpsc.com
GREEN EDUCATION FOUNDATION (GEF)
PILOT CURRICULUM
www.greeneducationfoundation.org
Due to Straughn Trout Architects' national recognition in sustainable design, the Green Education Foundation requested our recommendation of a client and project to pilot their Green Building Course curriculum. PSC’s Chain of Lakes Collegiate High School accepted this phenomenal opportunity for the Fall of 2011. The program offers a web-integrated STEM curriculum connecting USGBC-based audit projects with classroom instruction.
STA worked with the faculty and GEF to prepare teaching units that are directly related to the new building’s design. GEF is providing free curricula materials and textbooks for the course and the school is also eligible for additional grants and prizes.
Magnify Credit Union Finished
Sustainable (sub-urban) Infill
The design of this flagship branch for a recently re-branded credit union aligns with the client's mission of financial education and environmental awareness.
Building off the client's history as a community oriented business, the project is located on a previously developed site and was designed to wrap around an existing building that is home to a "neighborhood favorite" ice cream shop. This unique pairing increases the area's development density while minimizing changes to infrastructure and local traffic patterns. While only minor cosmetic changes were made to the ice cream shop, the finished project portrays two buildings, two businesses embracing each other in a symbiotic relationship.
The project not only furnishes commercial space for the owner, but also provides a multi-purpose community room and an outdoor pavilion and plaza. Programmatic flexibility of these spaces weaves the project into the local community fabric by providing a place for events that can develop an identity over time. As an intervention in an environment without any sense of place or true historical president, style and form become dictated by the sustainable functions of the facility as well as the operational activities of the occupants.
More Information:
http://www.straughntrout.com/magnify/
