Mayor Leary’s Message – September 2017
Winter Park Mayor Steve Leary
#NextChapterWP
We are in an exciting time as we prepare for the city’s new library & events center. We are very fortunate to have assembled an amazingly strong team to build this state-of-the-art facility for our community. Through an extensive Request for Proposal process, we have selected one of the world’s most internationally-acclaimed architects, Sir David Adjaye, who is working in association with HuntonBrady Architects to design this new facility. Adjaye was recently knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and was named among the 100 most influential people in the world for 2017 by TIME magazine. To have an architect on board of this caliber is quite a statement and achievement for our city that I am extremely excited about.
Just last month, we approved Brasfield & Gorrie and Lamm & Company as the construction manager who will be responsible for building the library & events center. With each of these reputable and talented entities in place, city staff is working with Pizzuti Co. serving as the city’s project manager (Owner’s Rep), to make sure it comes within budget and stays on schedule with an expected completion in 2020.
As we move through the pages of our next chapter, Adjaye and associates have incorporated information from all the input and work gathered in 2015 and integrated it with the most recent input as the base for his conceptual design. In June of this year, the design architect team held multiple meetings with targeted stakeholders and the public for input. This consisted of meetings with various members of the community such as the arts & cultural entities, city staff, library board of trustees, and parks & recreation board members. They also visited and spoke to people from different places in the city including the Hannibal Square Heritage Center, the Cornell Fine Arts Museum, the Winter Park Public Library, the civic center and Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. At the public meeting held at the civic center in June, over 200 people attended and shared their thoughts about facility amenities, technology, and the actual building site. There were various tables set up at the meeting with different topics at each table. This is where we talked about design requests such as the importance of natural light, open space, rooftop deck, striking architecture, Florida materials, sense of arrival, and a celebration of the outdoors.
On Wednesday, September 27, at 5:30 p.m. at The Alfond Inn located at 300 E. New England Ave., Sir David Adjaye and his team will present Adjaye’s concept design response to the various public input comments received. He will explain the elements incorporated into the design concept and how it is important to the overall feel of the new library and events center. This is one presentation about our #nextchapterwp you do not want to miss. For more information regarding the library & events center, please visit cityofwinterpark.org/nextchapterwp.
Sincerely,
Mayor Steve Leary, City of Winter Park
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