Florida Polytechnic will host its first students this year, and its Lakeland campus, while still a single building, is quite ready for it.
The campus plan and designs for all buildings were developed by Santiago Calatrava. There is an artificial lake in the center of the campus, which serves both to collect rainwater and to irrigate green spaces. The first building of the complex was erected on its bank - the Corps of Sciences, Innovations and Technologies. Until the university has other buildings, it will serve as a mini-campus, and then students and teachers of different specialties will be distributed among their buildings.
The building is surrounded by a terrace with an openwork "pergola" protecting it from the sun. The plan is based on two concentric rings of double-height corridors. The outer one, through the windows of which you can see the lake, unites ordinary seminar rooms, and the inner one - laboratories requiring special equipment and conditions. The second floor is occupied by the teachers' offices.
In the center of the building is the Commons Hall with an overhead light, surrounded by a ring of offices of the administration and professors: it can serve for lectures, performances, ceremonies and dinner parties, as well as discos. The rest of the time, it is open to students as a public space.
Mechanical blinds protect the body from the heat of the sun, which can be programmed so that they open depending on the movement of the luminary across the sky. In the future, it is planned to install 1,858 m2 of solar panels on them.
