H. J. High and joint venture partner GAC Constructors served as construction manager on the 93,500 sf Advanced Technology Center on Gulf Coast State College’s Panama City campus. The three-story facility is the college’s most energy efficient building and is designed to LEED Gold standards. The steel framed composite structure sits atop nearly 400 precast piles and is enclosed with brick, glass and aluminum composite panels. The most striking features of the building’s architecture are the slanted glass curtain walls that extend from the ground to the roof at one corner of the building, the roof top solar panels, and three roof top wind turbines. The ATC’s roof is designed for hosting community events and includes a serving kitchen, large patio, a tensile fabric shade structure, a park-like vegetative roof, and convenient access to adjacent conference rooms.
The building houses the college’s Small Business Development Center, engineering technology program which emphasizes alternative energy, culinary arts program with a full commercial demonstration kitchen, architecture, computer technology, and music technology with audio and visual labs.
Photography by Eric Marcus Studio