Located near the Tampa Bay area in southwestern Florida, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) at Bradenton is a new 109,000 ft2 (10,130 m2), innovative, problem-based learning facility for 600 medical students. Built at a price of $25 million, the all-precast concrete, three-story structure was delivered in a very compressed schedule, with medical students arriving for classes in September 2004, only 14 months from the onset of design. Planning and building LECOM from the outside in toward the center, a rapid delivery team made maximum use of economies of precast concrete prefabrication, production, and erection schemes. This precast concrete solution proved superior to cast-in-place concrete and structural steel alternatives in aesthetic appeal, total project cost, structural durability, and particularly in its remarkably rapid completion. With white-aggregate concrete encompassing a blue central skylight, this impressive medical education center offers state-of-the-art wireless classrooms and forensic laboratories in a striking facility that is both architecturally beautiful and thoroughly modern.
