About the Larry R. Thompson Academic Center
The Larry R. Thompson Academic Center is a five-story, 85,000-square-foot building that opened in 2009. The building, which was designed by the Sarasota-based Lawson Group Architects and built by Willis A. Smith Construction, Inc., is named after College President Dr. Larry R. Thompson.
Located in the southeast area of campus, the building houses the:
- Brickman Café
- Business of Art and Design program
- Graphic Design program
- Design Center
- Motion Design program
- Morganroth Auditorium
- Richard and Barbara Basch Gallery
- Willis A. Smith Construction, Inc. Galleries
LEED Certified
The Academic Center is LEED Silver certified. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the most widely used green building rating system in the world. LEED provides a framework for healthy, efficient, and cost-saving green buildings.
Some of the sustainable features of the Academic Center include:
- The use of low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints.
- Smart indoor lighting called photocell technology with motion sensors, that switch lights off when unoccupied or when daylight is detected.
- Energy efficient heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system called DX-VRV, or Direct Expansion: Variable Refrigerant System, that enables different floors or even areas on the same floor to have independent control of air-conditioning, which keeps the costs low.
- An exterior sun control system on windows that partially shades windows at critical times of day. They are partially powered by solar energy captured by photovoltaic panels, a non-polluting system that only requires a reasonably sunny climate in order to function.
- Enhanced insulation.
- An underground 25,000-gallon rainwater cistern to reduce its use of domestic water by providing gray water to flush low-flow toilets.
- Massive windows made of low-emissivity glass, which reflects a significant portion of heat without significantly diminishing the light.
- A cool roof system that has a high sunlight reflectance index which reduces the heat island effect, minimizing the impact of global warming.
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