FSU Psychology

The Psychology Center is a four story, 180,000 GSF building consisting of a 220 seat auditorium, classrooms, administrative space, clinic, neuroscience labs and vivarium facilities. The cost of Phase I and Phase II combined will be approximately 50 million dollars. The exterior of the building was subjected to a strict set of University guidelines which require all new facilities to utilize those architectural features identifiable with the Collegiate Gothic style. The building reinterprets these elements into a composition reflective of its time. The building ornamentation is simplified and the building skin is carefully revealed at select locations acknowledging its primary purpose as iconographic and non-loadbearing. The auditorium roof is clad in copper and additional precast concrete wall panels (simulating limestone) are introduced which typologically refer to its public and civic nature. The auditorium is also conceived as a symbolic marker for the entire building. Unlike the primary building, which is set on a plinth in a traditionally classical manner, the auditorium is nestled in amongst mature oak trees, berming, and landscaping in such a manner that it is perceived as “of the ground” rather than “on the ground”, as a traditional classical structure might evoke.