USF Picks Architect for new Nursing/STEM Building

April 19, 2023 – Sarasota

The University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus is offering its students, faculty, staff, alumni and community partners an exciting opportunity to shape the future of the campus by sharing their ideas for a planned Nursing/STEM building with the project’s newly appointed architects.

Two upcoming ideation sessions will provide a platform for participants to voice their needs and aspirations for the new academic and research building, and help shape its design, features and functionality.

The ideation sessions are scheduled for April 24, the first starting at 12:30 p.m. and a second one starting at 4 p.m. in the Selby Auditorium on the Sarasota-Manatee campus. People may attend either session. Lunch will be provided during Session I; light refreshments will be available during both sessions. Registration not required.

USF has selected Orlando-based HuntonBrady Architects, which has experience designing nursing and health sciences facilities, and Ayers Saint Gross, which is based in Baltimore, to design the $61.7 million, 75,000-square-foot Nursing/STEM building.

“We are thrilled to reach this important milestone in the planning and design of our new academic and research building, which is a centerpiece of our campus’s expansion,” said Sarasota-Manatee campus Regional Chancellor Karen Holbrook. “We hope that our faculty, staff, and most importantly, our students take advantage of this exciting chance to share with our architects their hopes and dreams for the building. We want to hear creative ideas from those who will teach and learn there.”

“No idea is too big or too small,” Holbrook said. “The whole idea is to explore the extraordinary.”

Holbrook also invited community members to contribute to the ideation sessions.

“We have great partners in Manatee and Sarasota counties. We want to hear from our friends, as we envision the building becoming a key engine of growth for a region we are proud to call our home,” Holbrook said.

“This is our first major project on the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus, with Ayers Saint Gross as design architect and HuntonBrady Architects as architect of record, and we look forward to designing a cutting-edge, technologically advanced facility for aspiring nursing and STEM professionals,” said Arash Kamangar, associate principal with HuntonBrady. “Our project team combines our national experience with recent STEM and health sciences buildings and our intimate knowledge of the local region and history of USF.”

Kamangar said the intent of the ideation sessions is to generate a large number of ideas that the team will filter and reduce “into the best, most practical, or most innovative ones to inspire new and better design solutions. … We will use the information gathered at these sessions to direct the start of our design process.”

The Nursing/STEM building, along with a student center and residence hall under construction, will transform both the appearance of the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus along U.S. 41, and the academic and other opportunities available to students, faculty, and the greater Sarasota-Manatee community.

Research has indicated that STEM buildings, which commonly include advanced laboratories that enable pioneering research, influence many prospective students’ decisions on which university to attend. Additionally, STEM buildings aid in the recruitment and retention of faculty members.

Opening a Nursing/STEM building on the Sarasota-Manatee campus will allow a doubling of the campus’s nursing program; introduce new majors in healthcare fields, engineering, the arts, and other programs; and address the demand for more spacious classrooms, teaching and clinical laboratories, and research facilities on campus.

The Nursing/STEM building on the Sarasota-Manatee campus will showcase USF’s commitment to offering students an exceptional educational experience and position the university to effectively address the rising demand in the region for skilled professionals in nursing, business, science, engineering and other fields.

The Nursing/STEM facility will be the third major building on the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus, after the Crosley Student Center, which opened in 2006, and the student center and residential housing building, which is set to open for the fall 2024 semester. Together, the two expansion projects along the campus courtyard will more than double the amount of space on campus and provide students with a world-class learning environment.

The state and federal governments have already provided funding for the design of the Nursing/STEM building, and additional funding will come from the state, the proceeds of the annual Brunch on the Bay fund-raisers and a capital campaign.

For more information and to stay updated on the progress of the Nursing/STEM building project, visit the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus website.