Seminar Buildings
1940
The seminar buildings were set in a spot to the east of the Water Dome. In 1940 Wright created the drawings for the buildings. Rather than create a multistoried building composed of many identical classrooms, Wright made three smaller structures of a more intimate size.
The three buildings were identical, aligned in a row, and shared both simplicity and architectural formality, with major and minor axes and centrally located doors and corridors. These were the first of Wright's Florida Southern buildings to "hug the ground" with low, flat roofs and dominant horizontal lines. Built entirely of concrete blocks, the seminars were attached to the esplanade that passed in front of them on the south side. Most of the blocks were patterned, but a few plain blocks were used at the corners.
Small courtyards with grass and trees sat between the seminar buildings. On entering one of the seminar buildings, one encountered a small hall with faculty offices on either side, ending in a cross axial hall and a classroom stretchingacross the entire width of the building. All the seminars were windowless, with skylights, small sidelights, and colored glass inserts in the concrete blocks providing natural light.
The buildings were originally known as the Cora Carter, Charles W. Hawkins, and Isabel Walbridge seminar buildings. Later, the courtyards between the structures were enclosed and offices created in this new space.
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