The Valencia College Careers in Industry and Technology Facility (CIT) opened its doors in January 2020 and is located on the beautiful Valencia College Osceola Campus. This state-of-the-art, 60,000 SF facility will provide students and staff with an innovative academic environment designed and constructed to cultivate learning, enhance student and faculty exchange, and inspire all those who enter.
Clancy & Theys served as the selected design-builder for the new three-story Valencia College CIT Project designed by HuntonBrady Architects. Together, the design team created a cutting-edge facility for the students, faculty, and staff of Valencia College. The building’s simple floor plan organizes the facility’s complex programs by level, and the open-grid hallways and storefront classrooms provide the space with a feeling of openness and collaboration. The building features a prominent entrance located in the center to ease circulation and welcome students, faculty, and visitors into an aesthetic workspace.
The new building will serve students in several new workforce-oriented degree programs, including a new Associate in Science Degree Program in Engineering Technology, specializing in advanced manufacturing and supply chain automation.
The first floor features open workspaces and includes an electronic CAD lab, vocational engineering lab, computer electronics lab, electro-mechanical lab, and a 1,500 SF flexible office space for international students. Additionally, the new CIT building will house Valencia College’s mechatronics program, a short-term workforce training program where mechatronics technicians learn electrical, technical, and computer skills to troubleshoot mechanical systems ATMs, assembly lines, computerized theme parks ride, and more.
The second floor reflects the College’s mission to provide a collaborative environment that promotes academic, technical, and life-long learning opportunities. Throughout the 20,000 SF space, students can work collectively in one of nine engineering classrooms or interactively in a digital virtual technology classroom. The area inspires learning through stimulation and interaction and provides access to practical learning environments needed to develop skills required for high-demand careers. These workforce programs include courses in residential property management and hospitality and tourism management. The floor features a 2,000 SF hospitality and real-estate maintenance training lab and a model apartment that incorporates functional appliances and exterior storefront tinted glazing walls to allow expansive views of the campus and adjacent pond. The third floor houses a new state-of-the-art career resource center and is unique to the Valencia College Careers in Industry and Technology Facility. It was added during the project’s preconstruction phase after the client expressed a need for future build-out space and career resources.