FSCs Barnett Residential Life Center Nears Completion

LAKELAND, Fla. (August 6, 2009) — Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the Yale School of Architecture and the founder and senior partner of Robert A.M. Stern Architects, will be at Florida Southern College on August 11 to dedicate Nicholas Hall, the second residence hall in the architecturally revolutionary Barnett Residential Life Center. The dedication ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. at the north entrance of Nicholas Hall.

The Barnett Residential Life Center, a national model for student residential living, was fully funded through a transformational gift from FSC alumni Carol Jenkins Barnett and Barney Barnett and Publix Super Markets Charities, Inc. The Barnetts named the two residence halls in honor of their sons, Wesley and Nicholas.

With 37, 510 square feet, four-story Nicholas Hall will house 120 students in 74 rooms and feature magnificent views of Lake Hollingsworth. Nicholas Hall's custom details include ironwork designed by Stern at the grand stairway and fourth-floor balcony, "Big Bang" pendant lighting fixtures by the avant-garde designer Enrico Franzolini, and Stern-designed Crossville Tile in all bathrooms.

Regarded as the worlds foremost Frank Lloyd Wright scholar, Stern's current clients include the residential colleges at Yale University and the George W. Bush Presidential Library at Southern Methodist University. For Florida Southern, he also designed the spectacular Dr. Marcene H. and Robert E. Christoverson Humanities Building, which is now under construction on Lake Hollingsworth Drive at Johnson Avenue.

In 2008, Stern received the National Building Museum's 10th Vincent Scully Prize, which recognizes exemplary practice and scholarship in architecture, historic preservation, and urban design. He holds an honorary doctorate from Florida Southern and served as the College's honorary chancellor in 2006.