FEFPA Awards Zyscovich Architects with Top Honors for Design of Seminole County Public Schools' Hamilton Elementary School of Engineering and Technology

Orlando, FL, February 07, 2018 --(PR.com)-- Hamilton Elementary School is one of four first place awards for Zyscovich Architects

The Florida Educational Facilities Planners’ Association (FEFPA), the state’s leading authority on educational design excellence, has just awarded Zyscovich Architects four First Place awards for: Seminole County Public Schools’ Hamilton Elementary School of Engineering and Technology, Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ Dr. Toni Bilbao Preparatory Academy, South Florida’s Miami Country Day School Center for the Arts, and Palm Beach State College’s Dr. Dennis P. Gallon Campus.

Each year, FEFPA's Architectural Showcase receives numerous statewide entries for elementary school, middle school, high school, community college, university and special projects. Projects are evaluated based on the following criteria: innovative response to the educational program; aesthetics and use of materials; flexibility for community use; technology provisions; green design; relationship of spaces and expandability; and site development. Winners were announced last week during the Association’s annual Winter Conference at the Hammock Beach Resort, Palm Coast, Florida.

An example of Zyscovich's winning approach to education design in Central Florida is Hamilton Elementary School of Engineering and Technology, a Seminole County magnet school that focuses on science, technology, and robotics. This FEFPA First Place Award Winner, formerly an underperforming school, was designed to promote innovative thinking through the discovery of real-world opportunities that foster collaborative problem solving, pursue excellence in student achievement and preparedness for success in a technologically sophisticated global society.

“In order to support the school’s vision to provide all students with the necessary tools to ‘Think Like an Engineer,’ we applied our People Places expertise in designing a campus that engages students with exciting and meaningful experiences to help children discover the joy, excitement, and mystery of learning,” said John A. Cunningham, AIA, managing principal for Zyscovich Architects’ Central Florida office.

Hamilton Elementary School's 21st-century learning facility also focuses on using space innovatively to create the wonderment of science so that the entire school becomes a teaching tool. The renovation portion of the project transformed approximately 65,000 SF of outdated classrooms, administration, dining and the media center to accommodate 21st-century learning modalities and technologies, with emphasis on incorporating state-of-the-art instructional spaces for the science, engineering and technology programs, including STEM and Robotics Labs.

Michael Pfeiffer, Principal of Hamilton, stated, “The redesign of Hamilton Elementary school creates a facility where students can immerse themselves in our magnet mission of Engineering and Technology. The entire school, hallways, classrooms, dining room, media center, and learning hub, create a setting focused on innovation, collaboration, and perpetual critical thinking. In essence, Hamilton has been reborn, creating a healthy, positive school culture founded within a learning environment which supports a hands-on curriculum using the Engineering Design Process.”

Throughout its 40-year history, Zyscovich Architects has built a solid reputation for designing many award-winning schools of excellence.

"Our forward-thinking approach to creating People Places in Education continues to win praise from not only our clients, but our peers. We at Zyscovich are incredibly honored to be recognized by FEFPA for designing award-winning 21st-century learning environments that instill and inspire students' curiosity and creativity,” said Zyscovich Architects’ Partner and Corporate Vice President, Jose Murguido, AIA, ALEP.

Zyscovich’s education design team has an extensive toolbox of school design services including 21st-century programming, master planning, sustainable design, historic renovations, and technology integration. Zyscovich Architects was ranked #37 on the nation's Top K-12 Architecture Firms List in 2017 by Building Design + Construction. The education team has been awarded 75 awards for its school designs, including more than 20 from the Florida Education Facilities Planners’ Association (FEFPA).

About Zyscovich Architects

Founded in 1977, Zyscovich Architects is an international urban planning, architecture, and interior design firm with offices in Miami, Winter Park, West Palm Beach, New York City and Bogotá, Colombia. For 40 years, Zyscovich Architects has strived to create projects with a purpose, bringing new life and vibrancy to cityscapes through integrated urban planning, architecture, and interior design. To this day, Zyscovich Architects has remained faithful to the original concept: design projects that have purpose and meaning.

Since the firm's inception in 1977, the goal has always been to establish a company that can provide high-value services for design-specific issues while placing "social betterment" at the core of everything we do. The firm was ranked 68th among the nation's Top Architecture Firms in 2017 by Building Design + Construction. The company has a broad portfolio of projects including mixed-use, transportation, educational, commercial, lifestyle retail, multi-family residential, federal, community, and hospitality facilities. Their innovative design philosophy, Real Urbanism®, considers city planning and architecture in a multidimensional way—emphasizing the history and context of the site to create places with identifiable character and personality.