Groundbreaking held for Valencia College West Campus Building 10 in Orlando

A groundbreaking ceremony was recently held for Valencia College West Campus Building 10, a new $13.3 million, 59, 511-sf facility now under way in Orlando by the design-build team of SchenkelShultz Architecture and McCree General Contractors, both of Orlando.

The three-story facility will house Valencia’s Continuing and International Education, as well as the Office of Information Technology. One unique feature will be the high-tech “Collaboratory” which includes approximately 12,000-sf of dedicated space specifically designed to enhance and promote creative discourse for groups ranging in size from 3 to 80 participants.

The collaboratory concept is intended to support multiple sizes and types of meetings simultaneously. The intent of this collection of spaces is to provide a place for idea generation, strategic planning, and execution of ideas among students, faculty and even visiting members of the business community. Slated for completion in January 2013, Building 10 will also offer classrooms, a testing center, administrative offices and additional meeting rooms. The facility is slated to achieve a Level 2 Green Globes Certification.

SchenkelShultz also designed Valencia College at Lake Nona’s new $21,750,000 Classroom Building now under construction, and provided the initial master plan study for the new 23-acre Lake Nona campus located southeast of Orlando International Airport. Scheduled for completion in July 2012, the three-story, 82,280-sf facility will be the first of four planned buildings at Valencia’s Lake Nona campus. BD+C

Rural hospitals present unique opportunities and challenges for healthcare facility operators. Oftentimes, the infrastructure and building systems have not been updated for years and require significant improvements in order to meet today’s modern medical demands. Additionally, as these smaller, more remote hospitals are acquired by larger regional and national healthcare systems, the first step by new ownership is often to update and rehabilitate the building. But how can this be done thoughtfully, economically, and efficiently in ways that allow the engineering and facility staff to adapt to the changes? And how can the updates accurately reflect the specific needs of rural communities and the afflictions with which these areas most commonly face?