Frank Lloyd Wright's only planetarium restored in Florida

Campus architects at Florida Southern College have updated the only planetarium designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright as part of a decades-long restoration project at the school, which was masterplanned by Wright.

The restoration included interior and exterior updates of the building, known simply as the Planetarium. The structure, which sits at one end of the Polk County Science Building, has been largely closed since 2004, when the projection system stopped working.

The renovation was guided by Jeff Baker, resident campus architect and a principal at MCWB Architects. Baker has worked on Wright projects at Florida Southern College (FSC) for twenty years and said the Planetarium has long been a goal.

"Since the outset of these overall restoration efforts, the college was always looking for an opportunity to restore the Planetarium, knowing full well its potential to excite and inspire audiences of all ages as they get a glimpse into the heavens and the great genius of Frank Lloyd Wright," Baker told Dezeen.

Work on the exterior began in 2021. The team replaced the roof, flashings, failed stucco on upper portions of the facade and replaced over 280 hand-cast "textile" tiles that line the building's perimeter.

The team then moved inside starting in 2023, where "decades of interventions since Wright's death had dramatically altered the room", according to Baker.

The team updated the Planetarium's technology and audio, repainting the walls from a deep blue, and paring down or removing insertions such as a computer closet built in the 1980s.

It also included working with local craftsmen to restore the original Wright-designed seating made of plywood and colored vinyl upholstery, and repositioning it to its rightful orientation.

"The removal of the old computer closet retrieved the space as it was designed," said Baker. "This removal allowed us to restore and reinstate all the seating in its original circular form, which we learned is a very rare survival in planetariums throughout the country."

Other updates included reinstating the original paint and plaster, and restoring the floor in a "Cherokee Red" finish.

It is one of thirteen Wright buildings built between 1938 and 1958, which the university has been updating since 2007.

Previous restoration work included updating the Waterdome, Wright's largest built fountain, the Esplanades, monolithic covered walkways that traverse the campus and the towering Annie Pfieffer Chapel.

Baker said, like working on other buildings on campus, Wright's "elemental" architecture proved to be the most challenging aspect of the project, as there are "no 'poche' spaces to hide modern building systems".

"Frank Lloyd Wright spent his life conceiving architecture as a synthesis of art and structure," he said.

"At Florida Southern College, this is manifested in buildings that are elemental – the concrete floors are the ceilings for the rooms below, the concrete ceiling is also the roof above."

"We believe we were able to devise methods to insert these systems in sensitive ways that meet the needs of the college yet allowed us to retrieve Wright's vision for the space."

The team completed the ongoing work through grants from institutions such as the J Paul Getty Foundation, which supported the preparation of the original Campus Heritage Plan in 2007.

The college has used the plan as a guide to update Wright's buildings.

It is the only college Wright master-planned. FSC president Ludd Spivey commissioned the architect in 1938 and, deemed a National Historic Landmark in 2012, it is the largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.

The Planetarium is now open to the campus and public for tours and screenings.

Dezeen recently rounded up six other Frank Lloyd Wright preservation projects across the US, including recent updates to the famed Falling Water house in Pennsylvania.

The photography is courtesy of Florida Southern College.

The post Frank Lloyd Wright's only planetarium restored in Florida appeared first on Dezeen.