The newly built 6,875-m2 (74,000-sf) Gale Lemerand student center at Daytona State College in Daytona Beach, Florida, utilizes stone and bronze in various facade applications to create a distinct appearance for the college, as well as guard from intense Florida sun, and achieve sustainable energy outcomes.
Designed by ikon.5 archiects, the center establishes a remarkable presence to the campus along International Speedway Boulevard connecting the roadway’s famed beachfront with the rest of Florida. Solving a campus planning dilemma of ubiquitous parking lots and background buildings facing the public way, an organically curving stone and bronze wall now faces the boulevard, embraces visitors like two outreached arms creating a landscaped welcome lawn and defining a clear point of campus entry.
The center is sustainably designed as a high-performance Green Globe-certified facility. Custom bronze perforated solar screens are veiled over large, glazed areas on the south and west facades to limit heat gain and glare while allowing views outward. A ventilated bronze rain screen at the portal tower reduces heat gain in the harsh Florida sun.
Rising from the center of the gently curving wall of the center is an iconic bronze and stone portal framing the opening to the student center and giving passage to the campus quadrangle beyond. Internally a three-story common overlooks the quadrangle and serves as the campus living room. Dining, a coffee shop, a gaming lounge, and group study rooms ring the student center commons.
An amphitheater on the second and third floors cantilevers into the commons and looks out onto the campus quadrangle. The amphitheater provides a theatrical experience giving students the ability to see and be seen, thereby reinforcing a sense of community, and belonging.
The following served as collaborators on the project:
Structural engineer, BBM Structural Engineers, Inc.; civil engineer, Parker Mychenberg & Associates, Inc.; Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing/Fire protection (MEP/FP) engineer, OCI Associates – Maitland, FL; landscape architect, Prosser; lighting designer, S+S Lighting Design; Summit, audiovisual(AV)/IT/security, TLC Engineering for Architecture; and, contractor: Perry-McCall Construction, Inc.
