Palm Beach Community College

This project is comprised of four buildings that house an education and training facility for the campus where students can take classes in trades such as automotive body repair, automotive mechanics, diesel mechanics, carpentry and sheet metal. The owner desired an unfinished interior that could withstand the rigors of everyday use in a working lab environment. To meet the tight schedule and the architect’s design intent, cast-in-place elements were used with Tilt-Up panels and columns.

Exposed concrete elements that emphasize the support of the structure created visual interest. The panels consist of reveals around the windows that enhance the mullion scheme of the windows. A louver formliner also was used on each of the buildings to accent areas that would normally be blank because of the interior function. Panels are painted with a two cream colors and accented with green colored glass. Two shop buildings feature 12-inch-thick panels that provide architectural mass to these buildings. Thick panel columns were also added to the exterior of the buildings to create features and shadows. The other two buildings feature more than 70 spandrels set on both cast-in-place and Tilt-Up concrete columns. The cast-in-place columns required strict attention to finish and alignment to ensure it matched the Tilt-Up columns. A curved wall with inset glass supported by two Tilt-Up columns creates the focal point for the courtyard between the buildings.