WARNER UNIVERSITY DARBY ACADEMIC BUILDING
Lake Wales, FL

This 80,000 SF academic and research complex consists of a two-story structure with laboratory space on the first floor and classroom space on the second floor connected to a state-of-the-art lecture hall complex via a pedestrian bridge. The structural solution for the project consisted of braced Vierendeel trusses 20-FT in height to create the atrium–like continuous clerestory and the 60-foot light well at the center of the building, which is created by cantilevering the trusses at their intersecting points and transitioning to an aesthetically exposed  space-truss system. The floors are composite steel supported by exterior concrete columns and masonry wall construction. The lecture hall is a long-span steel structure consisting of a space frame supported by buttressed walls. The pedestrian bridge is constructed of concrete columns to the bridge deck elevation and vertical steel girt system tied with bents at the 60-FT elevation.

Aerial image courtesy of Aero Photo