by Liz Daube
Staff Writer
After a year of planning, designing and remodeling, Florida Coastal School of Law held the first day of fall classes in its new building on Monday.
Florida Coastal purchased the former Citibank building in Baymeadows last fall. The school’s new facility is more than twice the size of its former location on Beach Boulevard. International design firm IDEO helped Florida Coastal incorporate the school’s education philosophy into the building’s interior design. IDEO has worked with a variety of companies, including Apple Computer and Stanford University, to create innovate product and space designs.
“We wanted to make sure the space reflected our legal education philosophy,” said Margaret Dees, the school’s director of institutional advancement. “They knew we had a much closer student philosophy than other law schools.”
Dees explained that Florida Coastal tries to stand out from other law schools by focusing on close, collaborative relationships between students and faculty. In addition, the school wants to be on the cutting-edge of the communications and courtroom technology.
With those goals in mind, IDEO suggested several innovations that local architectural firm Rink Design Partnership, Inc. used in its building plans. Features not pictured here include:
• Bus stops. Small benches are provided as rest stops for quick discussions throughout the building.
• Testimonial walls. Slender walls in the center of a wide hallway on the first floor will showcase the experiences of students, faculty and visitors.
• Box cars. Rooms near the entrance hall will be available for small group study sessions. The glass on one side of the rooms allows visitors to peer in. The school hopes to project a screen on the glass of each room for passing students to see what’s being studied.
• Fitness center. This feature is actually a leftover from the building’s former corporate use, according to Dees. “It was already here and we decided to keep it,” she said. The center needs equipment, but renovations are taking place. The paint in the aerobics room was still drying on Monday.
Overall, Dees said she’s pleased with the new location. She said the nearby 30-acre lake and bus route are important features for the school because it isn’t linked to a major university.
“This gives us more of a campus atmosphere,” said Dees.