4-minute read
There isn’t much about Citrus Connection‘s new office building that would lead you to believe it’s a hub for city bus operations.
From the murals in the front lobby to the tropical-themed working area with live plants and an open A/C system overhead, it’s hard to say exactly what the building is for.
Citrus Connection General Manager Tom Phillips is certain of one thing, however.
“This is Polk County’s first biophilic office,” he said recently.
What is biophilia? Biophilia is a concept often attributed to biologist E.O. Wilson. It denotes the human inclination to connect and interact with nature and living things.
Biophilic design and architecture aims to incorporate nature’s elements and principles into built environments to improve well-being and create more harmonious spaces.
Sky-blue walls, green carpet and moveable carts topped with plants help bring that concept to life at Citrus Connection’s new Lakeland offices at 1212 George Jenkins Blvd.
They’re inside a 13,000 square-foot converted warehouse that used to be a Maaco Auto Body and Painting shop.
“The irony is that a bus company moved into a defunct major car place,” said Phillips, who has been with Citrus Connection for 15 years.
“We’re trying to get people out of their cars, and we took over a place that repairs and paints cars.”
A growing need: Since 2015, Phillips said, Citrus Connection has grown from around 100 employees to more than 250 without adding additional office space in any of its four buildings.
The need to add working space and Phillips’s desire to bring his employees closer to each other prompted the acquisition of the former repair shop on George Jenkins Boulevard.
What those employees will not find when they come to work at their new building are electric outlets beyond their cubicles, or windows, conference rooms or back walls on cubicles.
That led to major savings on the renovation, slicing costs from $23 per square foot to $14.50 per square-foot.
Battery packs will fill the void where extra power is needed, four large TVs will take the place of windows and large conference tables are available for meetings.
The final renovation cost totaled around $300,000, coming in about $50,000 under budget.
‘You want a Rainforest Cafe?’ Facility manager Luis Diaz didn’t quite understand Phillips’s vision for the space upon first hearing about it.
“We all said, ‘What, you want a Rainforest Cafe?’” he said.
“But once we started, we all talked about it, and we got it.”
Phillips stepped back from that point and let Diaz and his crew bring the building to life.
Their ability to do most of the renovations in-house was the No. 1 cost-saving factor.
Among the amenities that Diaz and facility technicians Wayne Crosby and Hector Toledo were able to create was a Cuban-style outdoor café where employees can enjoy their breaks.
They also built the movable carts and a plant tower that can hold 180 plants.
A greenhouse to grow and store extra plants is tabbed for construction.
That should happen before the new Citrus Connection offices are unveiled in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 8.
Final brush strokes: Polk County artist Paul O’Neill is painting a pair of murals to welcome guests to the front lobby.
“To just put buses and people waving, that’s just not my style,” said O’Neill, a retired firefighter.
“The two images kind of play off each other and are ambiguous, allowing the viewer to see into it what they want to see into it.”
Just another abnormal element in a normal building full of them.
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Very nice. I read an article a while back on I believe it was 13 indoor plants NASA claims that purify the air in your home and it got me to thinking how it would be nice to have greener work spaces as well to offset some of the impurities, germs, etc and to make for a warmer aesthetic. Nice to see they implemented it close to home.