A 20-foot concrete pillar has been erected in the Orange County Regional History Center plaza in Downtown Orlando as a nod to a Ghosts of Architecture Past.
The structure is a small piece of a larger collection of brise soleil panels that used to adorn the former American Federal Building, otherwise known as the “round building,” which was razed to make way for the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
Editor’s Note: Brise Soleil means “Sun Breaker” in French.
The panels were saved by the Nils M. Schweizer Fellows in 2015 following a successful crowdfunding campaign, that we wrote about HERE, in the hopes of being incorporated into some sort of public art installations in the future. And the future has come.
Almost all of the 120 panels were removed prior to demolition, with only a few of them being damaged. They have been in City storage ever since, awaiting a chance to be put on public display.
An official unveiling and “Thank You” ceremony will be held on Saturday, December 1 at 11 a.m.
Click HERE to read more history on the American Federal Building on centralfloridamodern.com and their growing gallery of Central Florida’s most prominent modern architects.
