SoVi Living Lab
Demonstration prototype
SoVi Building 6 · A teaching instrument

A residence hall that teaches the science it is built from.

Every sustainability decision in a 535-bed hall becomes a primary source. The LEED scorecard is the syllabus, and each credit category opens onto a different program.

535beds, 6 stories
7colleges & schools
9LEED categories
LEED Silver 54/110
Certified 40 Silver 50 Gold 60 Plat 80

Illustrative target, shown to demonstrate the format. Real credit totals are set during design with FGCU.

The idea

One platform, two lives.

While the building goes up, the platform is a working project record. When it is finished, the educational layer is handed to FGCU faculty as an open teaching archive. The sensitive half never leaves the build.

Phase 01 · Build

Capture as it happens

Design choices, material submittals, and progress are logged during construction. Detailed drawings, structural layouts, and security data stay internal and exempt from public release.

Phase 02 · Curate

Translate to teaching

Concept-level explanations, approved photos, and the reasoning behind each system are pulled into a public layer. FGCU reviews what qualifies as educational before anything is published.

Phase 03 · Hand over

Owned by the academy

On completion, the educational archive transfers to FGCU. Faculty across programs use it, extend it, and add the next campus project beside this one.

The syllabus

The LEED scorecard, read as a curriculum.

LEED awards points across nine categories. Each one is also a question students can investigate with real evidence from this building. Open a category to see a sample lesson and the programs it feeds.

LEED v4 BD+C · New Construction Tap a card to open a lesson
54
illustrative target
points earned
Silver 50
Gold 60
Open to every college

Every college on campus has a way in.

These follow FGCU's actual colleges and schools, not a short list of favorites. A building this complex holds a question for engineering and business, but also for education, health, and the arts. The tags are starting points, any program can claim its own.

Seven colleges shown. The platform is built to add more angles as faculty bring them, and to add the next campus project beside this one.

What gets shared

The line between teaching and protected.

The educational layer is built to be public from the start. Anything that Florida law treats as confidential about a public building stays out of it.

Public educational layer
  • Concept-level explanations of each building system
  • Approved progress photography and time-lapse
  • The sustainability reasoning behind LEED credits
  • Material choices and life-cycle cost narratives
  • Lesson modules mapped to each program
Protected, never published
  • Detailed construction and structural drawings
  • Internal layouts and security schematics
  • Cost and schedule management data
  • Anything FGCU designates as exempt