Nick Alford–The Corsair
Pensacola Junior College is moving forward with its plans for the South Santa Rosa Center. The center is to be located on 110 acres in the south end of Santa Rosa County, adjacent to U.S. Highway 98.
The conceptual renderings and floor plans of the first building for the future PJC South Santa Rosa Center were approved for the design phase of development on Jan 19. Mike Richardson, first vice president of Bullock Tice Associates, presented the preliminary floor plans of the $9.4 million building to the PJC Board of Trustees who mandated the advancement of the project. The two-story, 32,000 sq ft building will house classrooms, science labs, a computer lab, a library and bookstore, administrative and faculty offices, and a student services area, which will include admissions and financial aid services. Construction of the building may begin as early as May 2010.
The plans reveal a spacious, L- shaped building with a grand staircase at its corner overlooking a massive student lounge, encased in large windows which look out to the small round-about at the main entrance of the campus. Two of its 10, 40-capacity classrooms will be equipped with operable wall systems to easily split the classrooms in half, allowing for more flexibility and a wider variety of classes. There are two science labs in the building as well, each with a capacity to teach 30 students. The conceptual renderings also explored positioning of the building in respect to weather conditions and sun patterns through the sky. Optimal interior lighting is incorporated in the design, and the building has been placed in a position that allows it to make effective use of sunlight.
“The building is orientated for longer exposure on the north and south sides of the building. This is intentional so we can harvest daylight which will offset the use of artificial light in the classrooms,” Richardson said. “In our next phase of development, we’ll begin to study what we need to do to the exterior of the building to harvest that daylight and integrate it with the artificial lighting.”
Richardson believes this design is ideal for the use of solar shelves, which can be fitted on the exterior of the building to deflect direct sunlight up into the ceiling of the classrooms, turning it into ambient light.
According to PJC President Ed Meadows, the building will also be LEED silver certified, exceeding certification standards of energy management as required by the state of Florida.
“The building will have a special kind of insulation between rooms and in the exterior walls,” Meadows said. “It will have a certain grade of insulated windows and heating and cooling technology that will minimize the use of energy in the facility. It will also have automatic lights and water control systems which will monitor usage to make sure it’s using only what is needed.”
Created by the U. S. Green Building Council, LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and new buildings are rated and judged in five categories according to the LEED method: water efficiency, energy and emission strategies, sustainability of location, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and infrastructure incorporation. Points are given for each category to the sum of 100, with 10 “bonus points” added for innovation in design and regional priority. These credits determine what grade level the site will be granted. To be certified, a project needs to earn 40 or more points. A platinum certification is the highest grade level a building can achieve, and it requires a score of 80 points or higher.
Although PJC does not intend to upgrade the building to platinum level at this time because of the high cost such an upgrade would incur, a silver certificate will more than exceed the school’s needs.