Esplanades
1946
The Esplanades link all the Wright constructed buildings on campus. Buildings not connected to them were designed by other architects. They provide shelter from the harsh Florida sun and frequent summer rains and allowed natural breezes to help diminish the heat. While they are usually free standing, at the Polk County Science building and Industrial Arts building, they are an extension of the building's outer walls. At the Administration building, they form a breezeway connecting the two sections of the building. By connecting all the buildings, and sometimes merging with them, they visually unify the campus and provide some striking vistas.
The Esplanades totaled about a mile and a half in Wright's original plan, but less than that would eventually be constructed. All of them were constructed from the same basic materials. Massive piers of plastered and painted concrete block, usually lining one side of the walk, supported a slender, cantilevered roof. Because of their shape, size, and patterning, the piers read as abstracted trees -- the campus was originally an orange grove, and many of the piers were eighteen feet apart, the typical distance between trees in an orange grove.
In contract to the thick piers, the structures roof slabs were generally quite thin. The roofs were made of concrete trimmed with sculptured copper fascias. Wright designed them quite low, just 6 and a half feet high at some points. At points where the walkway goes down stairs to a lower elevation, Wright folds the roof in a Z-shape to follow the walkway.
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