Polk County Science Building

Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida, possesses Frank Lloyd Wright’s largest tableau of structures on a single site. However, by the 1990s, the 6,000m² Polk Building (completed in 1958 and Wright’s final building on the campus) was largely defunct and in decayed condition. After obtaining funding from a private donor for a detailed survey, which played a significant role in saving the building from demolition, John McAslan + Partners and engineers Arup were commissioned to transform the architecturally significant Polk Building into a modernised teaching and laboratory facility. Ad hoc extensions were removed, and decayed fabric – notably Wright’s legendary decorative cast concrete blocks – was carefully renovated to bring the building back into full use, with boldly expressed building services elements as a key element of the rejuvenated building’s updated expression.