Once again, Florida House is changing the game. Twenty years ago, the Learning Center changed the way we thought about new construction and helped catalyze the green building industry. Today, it is continuing its legacy of hands-on learning and demonstrating opportunities for existing buildings to save energy, water, improve quality of life, save money and build the local economy.
We are transitioning from a publicly-funded entity to self-supporting enterprise, with a new business plan, and an engaged board with great new energy. Enthusiasm for new life at the Florida House is evident. We have a new lease and a $100,000.00 grant from Sarasota County to help renew the building and get it back to work.
Volunteers are working with the landscape, eager to demonstrate both Florida Yard and new best practices for local food production. Thanks to a grant from the Sarasota Bay National Estuaries Program, our new entryway is under construction with pervious paving. The walkway will include monitoring for the creation of local data and accountability for long-term water retention performance. Old partners (such as PGT and Kimal Lumber) and new demonstrations (such as a shaded 2-car electric vehicle charging station from local manufacturer, Apollo Sunguard) will put us back on the map as the go-to place for best practices and new technology.
As a community-based design center, the Florida House will showcase products and services that can reduce our demands for imports and build up markets for local businesses. It will clarify and demonstrate the new performance rating systems. A new internet-linked education system is planned to better connect visitors to good science-based information and direct them to the products and services they seek.
Redesigned for high-performance public meetings with live video capture and internet streaming, the Florida House is on the cusp of creating new capacity for collaborative learning, and creating educational media. The interior renovation plans feature a new demonstration kitchen and a design for healthy aging in place and multigenerational living. Hands-on learning for kids and students will stimulate interest in science and help everyone better understand how buildings and communities work.
Are you a community member? Do you have a building product to demonstrate? Are you a potential meeting customer, or a funder, or a consultant looking for meaningful work? Join the team, challenge and engage us; we invite you to co-create Florida House Institute.
