AIA Orlando held its 2006 Awards for Design Excellence Presentation & Gala on April 29 at the Country Club of Orlando. From a field of 48 entries, the chapter recognized 11 projects, awarding three honorable mentions, four awards of merit, and four awards of honor in architecture. The winning categories featured projects in building type categories that include three justice facilities, as well as government, commercial, entertainment, education, health-care, and interiors projects.

Awards of Honor

4700 Millennia Boulevard, Suite 550, Orlando, by HLM-Heery International Inc.
The objective for this project was to develop an office for an A&E firm that fostered creativity and contrasted to the typical suburban office environment. The design logic is composed of three fundamental elements: public space, collaboration zones, and studio space. The design disregards convention by allowing the edges that denote typical boundaries to be blurred. The architects organized and developed the spaces to provide a “layered, fluid, and provocative work environment.” Bold color delineates the solid surfaces that define edges and function. A minimum of physical walls promotes a dynamic space by allowing natural light into the inner work areas.
Photo © Steve Hornaday, HLM.

Sacramento County Juvenile Courthouse, Sacramento, by DLR Group
Located on a suburban site adjacent to a busy arterial road, this new 97,400-square-foot, three-story juvenile courthouse creates a centerpiece for the existing county juvenile center to which it connects. The two upper floors house four courtrooms per floor, which are paired around secure holding areas for in-custody defendants. Judges’ chambers and support spaces surround the courtrooms. The first floor serves as the main entry level and allows for secure connections to the juvenile detention facility as well as to secure holding staging areas and high-volume clerk and reception functions. The architect says the project had dual goals: to create a building that reflects the dignity and honor appropriate to a courthouse, as well as to make a dynamic civic statement sympathetic to the fabric of the existing juvenile campus.
Photo © Whittaker Photography.

Signature Flight Support Executive Aviation Terminal, Indianapolis, by Design Architect SchenkelShultz Architecture
This striking 6,500-square-foot terminal serves as the front door to Indianapolis’ corporate and business travelers, as well as to those arriving to participate in the city’s numerous car races and other sporting events each year. The design not only exceeded the program requirements, it also makes a bold statement celebrating the sense of flight through its form and use of glass, precast concrete, and metal panels. The high-performance design provided solutions for the harsh environmental and safety issues associated with its location at the end of an international airport runway.
Photo© Peter Aaron/Esto.

U.S. Courthouse, Jacksonville, Fla., by HLM-Heery International Inc.
This new 14-story federal courthouse provides 450,000 gross square feet and houses 17 courtrooms with associated chambers and support space. The court floors are arranged as two pairs of courts allowing all courtrooms exterior glazing. Magistrate and bankruptcy chambers sit adjacent to their courtrooms, while the district and appeals chambers are co-located on collegial floors. The exterior design centers on a contemporary representation of the federal judicial system. Limestone precast concrete panels and painted metal work recall the history of the 1930s courthouse program. Different hues of green glass offer desirable views of downtown and allow for extensive daylighting.
Photo ©Steve Hornaday, Bob Egleston.

Awards of Merit

County of Orange New South Court, Laguna Niguel, Calif., by Architect of Record GKK Works and Design Architect DLR Group
The architect sited this courthouse, located on 28 acres, along a north-south axis and wrapped it around an existing 30,000-square-foot 1960s courthouse. The new building houses 207,000 square feet on four levels, including a basement. The building has a court wing, which runs parallel to the civic plaza, and a smaller administrative wing set perpendicular to the first. Levels 2 and 3 of the court wing contain six courtrooms, each with jury deliberation and judges’ chambers. Level 1 has two courtrooms and the clerk of court with attendant payment counters. The administrative wing houses the district attorney, public defender, and jury assembly spaces on two levels, with the secure parking as well as the sally port and central holding areas in the basement.
Photo courtesy of the architect.

Park Maitland School—Kindergarten and Arts, Orlando, by HLM-Heery International Inc.
A new kindergarten/first grade building and an arts and athletics facility anchor this campus for a residential-scaled private elementary school. The kindergarten building features a dramatic learning center, which links the classroom wings and anchors the building to its wooded setting. The double height space includes a “tree” that symbolizes growth and shelter and supports a reading loft. The arts and athletic facility houses the performing arts programs. The barrel vault expresses the athletics space, while the windows in the music studio represent the musical notes in the school song. The arts studio has a distinctive red bay window, and the drama program is expressed as stage curtains.
Photo © Ben Tanner, HLM Staff.

Play House for a Charity Auction at The Mall at Millennia, Orlando, by HuntonBrady Architects
HuntonBrady Architects smallest project in 2006 is a playhouse designed to be sold at auction to benefit the pediatric department at Florida Hospital. The design parameters limited the size of the structure to a 10-foot cube. The design solution is a Modern, site-independent playhouse intended to be an educational tool as well as a healthy play environment. The playhouse addresses issues such as daylight control, rainwater, orientation, interior/exterior spaces, and flexibility. Its modularity allows it to be adapted to a variety of sites and easily transportable, and it configures in a variety of ways to achieve several levels of openness and weather protection.
Graphics courtesy of the architect.

Public Skateboard Park Pavilion, Sarasota, Fla., by Architects Design Group Inc.
This project makes use of existing concrete skate park bowls and ramps that were constructed prior to the park’s master plan. The new pavilion provides a single point of access and control for visitors and provides a pro shop, staff office, vending area, and public restrooms. A large covered outdoor space provides viewing area as well as a café to both the park and the public-at-large. The architects organized the program along a sweeping arc-shaped spine that rises along a ramp to the top of the skate bowls. The interior of the arc encloses a small, stepped amphitheater for minor outdoor events. The exterior of the arc creates an edge to the skate park bowls and enclosure for building areas and focuses the viewing platform toward skating activities. As the project moves forward, more pavilions and other community amenities will be built.
Photo © David Crabtree.

Honorable Mentions

Florida Hospital-Ormond Memorial, Ormond, Fla., by HuntonBrady Architects PA
The project consists of a replacement hospital including 245 beds and a 135,000-square-foot medical office building on a site adjacent to Interstate 95 in Daytona Beach. All aspects of the design encourage a healing environment, from master planning to building details. The design solution clearly defines the four project components: a 12-story inpatient tower, a glass oval containing the main lobby and vertical circulation, a three-story medical office building, and the support spaces. The architects organized the plan around the vertical glass oval, which becomes the hinge point connecting the inpatient tower, office building, and support areas. Behind the oval, a private courtyard serves as a contemplative space flanking the main concourse and waiting areas.
Graphics courtesy of the architect.

Lakeland Regional Medical Center, Lakeland, Fla., by HLM-Heery International Inc.
This new addition to the Lakeland Regional Hospital complex departs from the design of its surrounds and both complements the surrounding context and establishes a new focal point for the hospital campus. The geometry of the tower as it extends from the existing building matches the rectilinear grid of the old and serves as a reference point for the bold curvature—in plan and elevation—that announces the new image. This subtle device also allows the facility to link to existing elevator service cores and then sweep away from the new parking structure, preserving natural light and views from patient rooms.
Photo © George Cott.

Valencia Community College Criminal Justice Institute, Orlando, by C.T. Hsu & Associates
This 77,000-square-foot facility is the first building completed for the college’s 58-acre Public Safety campus, for which the architect also provided master planning. The architect designed the $11.3 million state-of-the-art facility to reflect the spirit and dignity of men and women preparing for a career in criminal justice. Foregoing the large-box building concept prevalent on college campuses today, the firm instead sited the program’s four major components—administration, classrooms, labs, and physical fitness facility—in wings that surround a landscaped courtyard and are linked by a double-height lobby and covered walks.
Photo © Bob Braun Photography.

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