Advanced Technology Center Revolutionizes Learning Experience
Gulf Coast State College Advanced Technology Center (ATC) - Panama City, FL
Gulf Coast State College, in Panama City, Florida, has just opened its brand-new Advanced Technology Center (ATC), one of the most sophisticated learning centers in the country, for 2013 fall term classes.
“We are excited to have this game-changing facility completed and opened for students,” said Dr. Jim Kerley, GCSC President. “We believe this facility will help attract new high-tech, high paying jobs to our area and are pleased to share the finished product with our region. We extend a special invitation for everybody to join us as we celebrate the top ATC in the country.”
The LEED gold certified facility is 93,500 square feet, the first
green building on the Gulf Coast campus, and among the most
state-of-the-art centers of its kind. Through the ATC, the college
seeks to provide students with the opportunities, resources, and
network they need to succeed in a highly competitive global
marketplace.
A New Approach to Education
According to the online ATC Philosophy statement, the new
center “is a transformative facility embracing a ‘future forward’
philosophy grounded in innovative partnerships. This premier
facility will be the tipping point of the region, harnessing the
wealth of talent in our area to accelerate economic development
and job creation.”
The ATC’s interdisciplinary approach to education distinguishes it from other institutions of higher education. The academic programs range from Alternative Energies to Digital Forensics,
Entrepreneurship Operations, Sustainable Design, and Logistics.
Students can pursue both Associate’s degrees and Baccalaureate
courses of study depending on their individual goals and needs.
The varied ATC course catalogue reflects the institution’s mission
to spark collaborative partnerships between the private business,
government, industry, and educational sectors.
A workforce-training resource prepares graduates of the
ATC programs with the tools to communicate their skills and
strengths in the 21st century job market, in addition to pursue
their own innovative entrepreneurial ventures. The ATC, a $35
million investment, promises to bring economic prosperity
back to the northwest Florida region, and aims to elevate the
local community with educational and research opportunities
provided nowhere else.
The ATC also emphasizes STEM fields (Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Math) to prepare students for practical
application of skills in the workplace. Additionally, GCSC has
partnerships with local K-12 schools. The goal is to confer higher
education degrees to local Florida students considering that
slightly less than 20% of high school freshmen do not pursue
postsecondary studies.
Top-of-the Line Facility Resources
The building itself demonstrates a commitment to progressive
design and education. The outdoor patio and green roof are home
to wind turbines and photovoltaic solar panels with views of
nature and the St. Andrews and West Bay. Additionally, students
have access to labs, where among other projects, students are
working on converting fossil-fuel vehicles to an electric power
source. They are also planning a marketable solution for the
government and public and private transit institutions that do
not realize their potential for a fleet of green vehicles. In other
departments, students can build robots, use 3-D printers, and
experiment with windmills and even new culinary technologies.
At the Entrepreneurial Development Center, the ATC houses a
community training room and CNC machines to which students
working on projects have full access. The resources enable
collaboration across a cross section of engineers, sustainable
builders, robotics researchers, and students of the Alternative
Energy program.
State-of-the Art Furnishings
The ATC furniture is critical to its mission, and was designed
to accommodate students and faculty who both bring their own
devices and use technology infrastructure that GCSC invested in
as part of their “learning convergence” environment. “Learning
convergence” refers to areas where students can work or have class
while collaborating or using information technologies. Following
this thread, the ATC has no corridors in its buildings; all floors are
open architecture and open, collaborative zones where students
can gather around technology clusters.
Joe Sorci, director of design at Florida Architects, was the head
architect for the entire project, and as the building progressed,
it became clear that cutting edge furnishings for the ATC were
going to be difficult to find. As the ATC goal was to optimize
the utility and flexibility of every space within the building,
standardized, traditional furniture would not prove satisfactory.
In March 2011, Mr. Sorci contacted SMARTdesks, a collaborative
furniture company committed to meeting the needs of the 21st
century classroom. The company followed up with sample
furniture, including the unique, reconfigurable Exchange table,
as well as the HorizonLine and Pi tables. In June 2011, at the
NEOCON trade show, Sorci continued searching for the ideal
furniture, but found that while most other companies also touted
their furniture as “collaborative,” few lived up to his expectations.
The company’s design team engaged in dialogue with Florida
Architects to assess the very space-specific needs of the ATC,
launching a synergistic relationship that would ultimately lead to
the completion of a world-class facility.
Preparing and Presenting the Invitation to Negotiate
Because the ATC needs varied widely—from audio-visual tools to
wireless connectivity to moveable furniture—Gulf Coast put out
an Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) to contract out various parts of
the project. Sorci explained that instead of organizing a binding
bid contract, the ITN would engage potential suppliers and enable a discourse between the architects and furniture designers.
He explained, “It really came down to finding the right pieces of
furniture. Because they’re only going to buy it one time, it had to
be the right product for the project.”
Sorci also did not want to wait for the furniture to arrive
before realizing it wasn’t suitable for the space. His goal was
simple: interactions between furniture suppliers, the architects,
and the school board would be as collaborative and solutionsoriented as the curriculum soon to take place at the ATC. He
needed a company willing to take on the challenge of integrating
audio-visual technology into a wireless environment, and he was
having a difficult time finding assistance in designing changeable
configurations of furniture with the audio-visual necessary hardwiring systems. The ATC board sought to leave the “old” standard
of education behind, but to do so customized, organized orders
were crucial to success.
The Design Team immediately began working collaboratively
with Sorci to achieve the custom vision for the ATC. The team met twice per week for several months in 2012. Director of
Design Michele McHenry said that they covered “all the details
for every component in every room.” The scope of the project
was enormous. The company accounted for conference tables
and collaboration centers, café tables, and seating to generate a
unified and flexible workspace that would soon define the interior
sophistication of the ATC. Regarding the comprehensive design
process for each and every room, GCSC President James Kerley
said: “If it was not highly utilized space, then forget it.”
About One Year Later: Celebrating the Grand Opening
In October of 2013, over 500 students, faculty, staff,
administrators, architects, and designers attended the grand
opening of the ATC. Six years after initial planning and three
years after breaking ground, the building is finally ready for fulltime use. President Kerley told local news channel 7, “Our goal
was to try to be one of those top 2 or 3 schools, and I think we’ve reached that. That’s a great feeling for our faculty and staff
and our students and our community. This is the community’s
building.”
The design team developed furniture that, according to Sorci,
“fits the style and statement of the building.” For example,
the Exchange tables are comprised of modular units that each
houses a FlipIT mechanism for secure display and presentation
of computers and monitors. These modules can be arranged
into hexagon, pinwheel, wave, and triangular combinations,
depending on the needs of the students and educators for each
project. In another area of the building, a scaled down version of
Exchange, called the iGroup, serves other students’ needs.
Dr. Ariba Garmin, Director of E-learning said, “The furniture
provided allows staff and student to create any learning
environment you want. You almost don’t see it at all because
you can move it around to suit your needs.” One example of this
flexibility in the ATC is the third floor boardroom table for 28
people. The table is comprised of fixed and foldable Nesta tables
that can be collapsed and used elsewhere, thereby giving the space
multi-functionality for various meetings, classes, and disciplines.
Kim Allan—assistant professor of Micro-Computer
Applications— stated, “The current generation does not want to
be lectured to. They are going to figure it out for themselves. In
order to keep pace with the current generation of students, you
have to change your pedagogy to keep their interest.” Allan added
that the best way to teach is to have students learn as a group; she
believes these furnishings allow her to meet her own pedagogical
goals.
Wendy Payne, an Associate Professor of Business Technology,
teaches in the Vista Collaborative Space; Payne noted, “I came
from a space that used cubicles. Conversations with your
neighbors were not all that easy. What is nice in the space that
SMARTdesks has provided is that everyone can see one another.
All eight students can work in teams, in pairs or as groups. All of
my classes are not lecture-based. They are working groups that we
assign problems to. They have the tools and can read; therefore
the hard work is solving the problem.”
In the “community training room,” Pi tables offer a modern
twist to the typical lecture configuration of desks. While the
tables are usually arranged in long arcs for easy visibility and
comfortable use of laptops, the Pi tables can also be organized
differently should the need arise for another arrangement.
Antonio Adessi, assistant professor of Business and Technology commented on this flexibility: “What we are doing in the digital
manufacturing, electronic engineering and product design
with students is giving them that creative edge and experience
that most employers require. Our programs really promote
entrepreneurship, collaboration, and innovation in our students.”
commented on this flexibility: “What we are doing in the digital
manufacturing, electronic engineering and product design
with students is giving them that creative edge and experience
that most employers require. Our programs really promote
entrepreneurship, collaboration, and innovation in our students.”
Launching Future Leaders
The invigorating learning atmosphere for ATC students aims
not only to improve the economic health of the region, but also
foster analytical skills that will serve students in their community
at large. Pre-engineering ATC student John Freeman said, “It’s
exciting! You walk in here and you feel like you are a part of
something! I’m from this area, so I know how valuable it is for
us to have this building. It gives us a broader band of education.
It offered to bring new businesses to this area and caters to the
businesses we already have.”
Jeff Korber, President of SMARTdesks, noted, “All social
change must be common. It is based in community interaction
and consensus. This ATC center represents a model for the upper
Florida peninsula to bring together many disciplines which
support its local community connected to a much wider set of
similar cultures. Interdisciplinary education and sustainability
are its foundation.”
Mass Customization: original designs, made for you.
By the room, floor or building, we team, plan and deliver with responsiveness at every phase.
Make an original statement with maximum visual impact,
technology integration, user comfort, unifi ed design applied
throughout a broad range of settings.
Custom furniture design, made in the USA., backed by a
lifetime warranty.
- Flexible collaboration spaces
- Teleconferencing
- Wifi student lounges
- Classrooms for teaming
- Lecture and demonstration
- Technical labs and studios
- Corporate meeting rooms
iGroup Collaboration Tables
iGroup is a customizable collaborative table made of modular components. Each component is a 30-60-90 right triangle, enabling various configurations into pinwheel, hexagon, arrow, rectangle, and abstract shapes. Also available are 30, 60, and 90 degree wedges (shown above in white) that extent the possibilities. Available in custom thermofoil or laminate finishes, including dry eras tops.
Pi Collaboration Tables
Pi tables nest with one another to create undulating lines and add curves to classrooms. Arrange in more traditional straight lines or create bent lines and pods if desired. Avaliable with LaptopSafe hardware, flipIT hideaway monitor mounts, or plain desktop. Standalone Teacher Table also available.
Making happy customers for more than 20 years.
Customized solutions to meet your specific needs.
Highest quality products made in the USA.