Landmark Designs

    Over the past several years, we’ve become accustomed to watching commercial buildings materialize quickly and abundantly, to the point where seeing another project surface didn’t attract a lot of attention. A Mediterranean-style strip mall here, a Mediterranean-style office building there—just another fixture on the Southwest Florida landscape.
    But every now and then, a new structure—or a fresh take on an existing one—emerges, calling  for a second look. These are projects distinguished by outstanding form to suit function, which legendary architect and interior designer Frank Lloyd Wright once declared “should be one, joined in a spiritual union.”
    In recognition of such exceptional examples, Gulfshore Business presents Commercial Designs of Distinction.
    The finalists were selected from nearly 40 submissions made in response to a call for entry published in Gulfshore Business Daily and American Institute of Architects Florida Southwest publications. We separated the projects into six categories: commercial, medical, institutional, remodels and renovations, interior and best overall.
    The projects—completed after January 2008, per the rules— were judged by editorial and art staff with the astute guidance of Carlos Urzola, AIA Florida Southwest 2009 president, who provides the comments on each project.

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Best Commercial
Simmonds Corporate Center
3750 Enterprise Ave., Naples
Project Architect: Architects Unlimited
Contractor: DeAngelis Diamond Construction Inc.

Simmonds Corporate Center is the corporate headquarters and operations center for E.B. Simmonds Electrical Inc., a Naples-based commercial and industrial electrical contractor. The complex consists of a three-story, 16,000-square-foot office building and a two-story, 14,000-square-foot operation center designed to accommodate a future helipad on its roof. The client wanted employees to have contact visually and physically with the outdoors. The south façade was designed with deep overhangs to protect the windows and patio doors from heat gain and the glare of afternoon sun. The north façade is clad with a glass curtain wall, which captures non-glare, diffuse light for the offices behind it. The façade at the rear is a blank wall of cut stone punctuated only by a pair of massive mahogany doors. This was done not only to block unattractive views across the street and minimize heat gain, but also to surprise visitors with a soaring interior space filled with soft light, machinery and layers of transparent walls exposing the structure of the building.
    Comments:Robust massing and rhythms enrich the exterior of this modern building, in addition to the use of plenty of natural light inside, which is noticeable from the exterior.

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Best Institutional
Fort Myers Beach Fire Station No. 32
17891 San Carlos Blvd., Fort Myers Beach
Principal architect: Dan McGahey (Gora/McGahey)
Contractor: Fowler Construction

The new Fort Myers Beach Fire Station No. 32 replaced an existing facility that had long been obsolete. Located on the mainland, the station will serve as the fire district’s command post during storm events. Placing the 12,290-square-foot station on the 20,000-square-foot site challenged Gora/McGahey, the consulting engineers and Lee County staff to arrive at a solution that wouldn’t compromise the needs of the district while complying with county ordinances.
The solution resulted in a three-story modernist scheme. The ground floor includes three apparatus bays, bunker gear, decontamination rooms and a lobby. The second floor is the living quarters, with six individual bunk rooms, kitchen, dayroom, dining room and exercise room. The third floor serves as offices and training room during normal operation.
    Comments: Simple lines, a splash of red color and a touch of metal give a traditional, institutional building a modern look.

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Best Medical
The Prostate Center
955 10th Ave. N., Naples
Architect and engineer: Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc., Fort Myers
Project designer: Dennis Escobar
Contractor: Precise Construction, Tampa

Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc. collaborated with client Specialists in Urology and Precise Construction to design a facility to enhance quality patient care. The challenge was to take a nondescript, 1970s-era power building and turn it into a prostate cancer center on a site that borders an older residential area in Naples. The mass of the existing, two-story box was visually broken down into smaller scaled elements by using various materials, colors and textures found in the adjacent residential neighborhood. A modern architectural vocabulary was employed to reinforce the state-of-the-art medical treatment at the facility and to relate to the client’s adjacent existing modern building.
    Comments: Irreverent and colorful, this building is full of texture, and color creates a unique stamp in the fabric of the city.

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Best Interior
PK Studios Inc.
2550 Goodlette-Frank Road, Naples
Project Architect: PK Studios Inc.
Contractor: PK Studios Inc.
Interior Designer: PK Studios Inc.

When it came time to expand PK Studios’ operations into a new office building, it was only natural that the firm elected to take on the role of architects, interior designers, landscape architects, graphic designers and contractors. It was the first project in the history of the firm that involved every single company division and individual in some way. The most significant challenge for this project was making an architectural statement while staying true to the City of Naples and the business park’s aesthetic requirements. The firm was able to do this partly through having complete control of the interior design components. To appreciate the PK Studios building, one must step through the doors and discover each unique space and the high level of thought in every building detail.
    Comments:The uniqueness, texture and attention to detail of each space give the individual a desire to explore and to create.

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Best Remodel or Renovation
City of Fort Myers Public Works Annex (the Red Brick Building)
2600 Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd., Fort Myers
Project Architect: BSSW Architects Inc., Kevin M. Williams
Contractor: Wright Construction Group

In 1937, the City of Fort Myers took advantage of the Works Progress Administration program and built a water plant that included a two-story brick pump building, which became known as the Red Brick Building. In 1992, the plant was decommissioned. The 14,000-square-foot building is a fine example of Depression-era Art Deco architecture, featuring detailed brick and terracotta. On the interior, the two-story volume is spanned by cast-iron, steel girder trusses that, along with the two-story steel windows, give the building an industrial quality. BSSW Architects was challenged to re-commission the building into municipal offices serving the city’s public works departments, emergency operations center and data recovery center. The facility was hardened to withstand 170 mph winds, and great care was taken to restore the historical structure and be sensitive to its unique qualities in the addition and interior remodeling.
    Comments:A great balance of modern use and historic building preservation keep the spirit and the style of the past.

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Best Overall
The Harvey Kapnick Center at Naples Botanical Garden
4940 Bayshore Drive, Naples
Project architect: Architecture Inc.
Contractor: Kraft Construction
Engineers: HSA, JALRW,  WilsonMiller, Goetz & Stropes

Florida Gulf Coast University’s Harvey Kapnick Center Research Labs is designed so this highly sophisticated research facility fits within the context of its vastly organic site and surroundings at Naples Botanical Garden. The building’s long-linear form is derived from the client’s need for the building to be visible from the adjacent Bayshore Road and to visually utilize the lake. This orientation negates direct sunlight into the building in the summer. Exterior corridors penetrate the long linear form to negate the perception that the building acts as a wall dividing the site. A major pedestrian path through the Garden campus goes through one of these corridors, promoting pedestrian interaction with the building. Toward the lake, the ground slopes down and the building rises off the ground in a floating manner. This physical expression reinforces the client’s goal of minimizing negative environmental impacts from building on the site.
    Comments: Delicate and simple, a perfect orientation to bring nature inside the building and provide shelter from the rigorous sun.