Sustainable Design Blog

In the recent Chariety Register issue of Sarasota Magazine, the Cancer Support Community's new home was described as an Instant Landmark.

"Best Proud Moment - The crowd at the gala celebrating the Cancer Support Community's state of the art new $6 million Building Hope practically levitated with excitment. This instant landmark, with its soaring arch, was the perfect backdrop for the heartfelt speeches, congratulations and dancing under the gorgeous tent." -Sarasota Magazine, Pam Daniel

The Cancer Supprt Community Florida Suncoast is a non-profit organization providing free psychological and educational services for cancer patients and their loved ones. Our programs adhere to the “Patient Active” concept and focus on providing support, education and hope for anyone affected by cancer. The project was LEED NC Gold certified under the USGBC's LEED Green Building rating system.

May 27, 2011     Sarasota, FL – When it opened last fall, the Cancer Support Community Florida Suncoast’s new facility turned heads with unique architectural elements like the reclaimed 150-year-old Florida pine entry pillars and environmentally-friendly building design.  The 11,142-square-foot building nestled on 2.2 acres of landscaped grounds surrounded by a nature preserve is home to a unique mission: providing free psycho-social support services to anyone affected by cancer.  Now the Sarasota nonprofit and those it serves have new cause for celebration: the building is the first health facility in Sarasota County to earn LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

“Facilities where health and healing occur are some of the most important construction types to benefit from green building design,” said Rick Fedrizzi, President of the U.S. Green Building Council. “Green buildings seek to reduce use of and exposure to toxic chemicals. For cancer patients with compromised immune systems, that means a healthier environment for healing.”

Carlson Studio Architecture and Willis A. Smith Construction, Inc., the design-build team for the first-of-its-kind facility, will host a LEED Dedication Ceremony to formally recognize the Cancer Support Community’s accomplishment at 11:30 AM on Monday, June 13.  Representatives from the USGBC’s Florida Gulf Coast Chapter will preside at the event.  The ceremony is open to the public and building tours will be available.

“The Cancer Support Community board and staff demonstrated extraordinary dedication and perseverance to sustainability goals as well as adherence to best practice, evidence-based design standards throughout the process.  Their commitment to doing what was in the best interest of their mission and the people they serve was not only inspiring to the design team, but kept us all focused on creating an optimum environment where hope and healing could occur,” said U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Florida Gulf Coast President Michael Carlson of Carlson Studio Architecture.

LEED is an internationally recognized third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2000, LEED serves as a tool for buildings of all types and sizes. LEED certification offers third-party validation of a project’s green features and verifies that the building is operating to objective design standards. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. 

The Cancer Support Community’s $6.1 million project on a five-acre site just east of Interstate 75 in Lakewood Ranch is designed to be an optimal healing environment, combining healthful materials, art, design and nature in a “green” facility to support people whose immune systems often have been compromised.

The facility was financed through philanthropic donations and grants. “Our community should take great pride in this model facility and in the extraordinary generosity of local donors and foundations during a very difficult period,” said Alfred Rose, campaign chair.

Prior to construction or site design, all project team members, staff as well as program participants met for a series brainstorming, design meetings known as “eco-charrettes” to build consensus for programming elements of the building and to identify desired sustainability aspects and features of the facility.  This collaborative, integrated, whole systems design process helped prioritize and rank the desired healthy, green, sustainable and environmentally-friendly aspects of the building.  Including:

Proper site orientation:  The buildings are perfectly aligned along an East/West axis, so the long sides of the buildings face North and South.  This orientation has a positive impact on all other green decisions because the windows, overhangs and even the placement of the photovoltaic panels on the roof collectively bring the buildings all the advantages of natural light, while maximizing the best use of the sun and minimizing adverse effects such as heat gain.

Energy efficiency and water conservation features reduce the building’s operational costs and conserve resources.

The building is constructed from the most eco-friendly materials – there are no harmful chemicals in the paint, wood, concrete, adhesives, sealants, etc.  This produces a healthy environment for patients with compromised immunity.

The facility is located on a parcel of land located on a nature preserve that takes advantage of nature’s healing properties. The building overlooks a beautiful vista of natural scenery and wildlife.

Sustainable Design/Build Team Members

Architecture: Carlson Studio Architecture

Construction: Willis A. Smith Construction

Civil Engineering: Wilson Miller

Landscape Design: DWY Landscape Architects

Engineering: Stewart Engineering

Structural Engineering: Hees and Associates

Interior Design: TRO Jung/Brannen and Ringling College of Art & Design

Project Management:  Johnette Isham, Capacity by Design

Timeline:  Programming design began in 2006. Construction began July, 2009.  The building was completed and certified for occupancy in October, 2010.
 
Cancer Support Community Florida Suncoast provides hope, education and support to people affected by cancer, and all of its programs are provided free of charge. Through participation in support groups, informational workshops and mind/body classes, people affected by cancer learn vital skills that improve the quality of their lives and make them better partners with their medical professionals. Since 1996, more than 11,000 individuals have made more than 60,000 visits to the center in Sarasota and at satellite locations throughout the area.  For more information on programs and services:    www.cancersupportsuncoast.org

By WALKER MEADE Correspondent
Herald Tribune

There is no better evidence of the great change in our attitude toward breast cancer than the pink-ribboned bumper stickers that we see all over town: "Save the Ta-ta's."
A decade ago, lightheartedness about such a serious subject would not have been possible. A breast cancer diagnosis then was experienced as a death sentence. Now, medicine has achieved a five-year survival rate of close to 90 percent for those diagnosed with stage one cancer, and the support system for those suffering from cancer is vast. An organization in Southwest Florida that has been dedicated since 1996 to helping women get healthy again is The Wellness Community Southwest Florida, now called The Cancer Support Community Florida Suncoast after merging with Gilda's Club last summer. Its mission is "to help people affected by cancer enhance their health and well-being through participation in a professional program of support, education and hope."

The organization recently moved from its longtime home on Clark Road in Sarasota to a new facility on Communications Parkway in Lakewood Ranch and hired Sarasota businessman Carl Ritter as its CEO. The five-acre campus, surrounded by more than two acres of gardens bordering a 600-acre nature preserve, is the result of a multi-faceted collaboration. Early on, the center established relationships with New College of Florida, Florida State University's College of Medicine in Sarasota and Ringling College of Art and Design. In the fall of 2006, six upper-level Ringling students collaborated on an assignment to address the project's design concept: illustrating the transforming power of connection and choice.

The Cancer Support Community's "Building Hope" will officially open next Tuesday October 19th, 2010. The $6.1-million facility is located on five acres in north Sarasota County just east of I-75 in Lakewood Ranch. It will be run by the Cancer Support Community Florida Suncoast, the new name for the Wellness Community of Southwest Florida. The new center will include an 11,142-square-foot building and 2.2 acres of landscaped gardens. The facility is being designed to support people whose immune systems have been compromised.

The Building Hope project is seeking Gold Certification under the USGBC's Leadership in Energy and Enviromental Design (LEED) green building rating program.

Jay Lockaby, CEO of The Wellness Community of Southwest Florida (www.wellness-swfl.org), has been named to a new position by the organization’s national headquarters in Washington, D.C. Lockaby will become Senior Vice President of Affiliate Relations and Strategic Growth for the Cancer Support Community, a network including 50 local affiliates and more than 100 satellite locations. Jay will begin the transition to the national headquarters staff on September 7, but will maintain his role as CEO of the The Wellness Community of Southwest Florida until December 1 to help shepherd the organization through the grand opening of the newly-constructed facility scheduled for November 12th.

The announcement is just the latest recognition for Lockaby and The Wellness Community (TWC) here. The local organization previously received national’s Center of Excellence award with the highest score across 116 critical indicators of success. In 2007, Lockaby received the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce’s Young Professional of the Year Award, and last year TWC was a finalist for the local chamber’s Non-Profit of the Year Award.

In September, TWC plans to open a state-of-the-art facility for cancer patients and their families on a five-acre campus in Lakewood Ranch. Surrounded by healing gardens and serene nature preserves, this model of an optimal healing environment incorporates the latest in green technology and will be a worldwide prototype for other cancer support organizations.

“This exciting initiative will have a far reaching impact that will help change the face of psychosocial care for people affected by cancer,” said Kim Thiboldeaux, CEO of the international Cancer Support Community, in speaking about the new facility here.

Lockaby will remain in this area in his new position, supporting all the local cancer support organizations created by the recent merger of The Wellness Community with Gilda’s Clubs Worldwide.

The Wellness Community provides hope, education and support to people affected by cancer, and all of its programs are provided free of charge. Through participation in support groups, informational workshops and mind/body classes, people affected by cancer learn vital skills that improve the quality of their lives and make them better partners with their medical professionals. TWC is now part of the largest professionally-led network of cancer support in the world.

For more information, please contact Carol Ann Kalish, Board Chair, The Wellness Community of Southwest Florida, 941-329-6626.