JetBlue University

Owner: JetBlue Airways Inc., Forest Hills, N.Y.
Location: Orlando
Cost: $17 million
Contractor: Suitt Construction Co., Maitland, Fla.
Architect/Structural, Civil and Electrical Engineer: BRPH Architects-Engineers, Melbourne, Fla.

Suitt Construction Co. of Orlando led the design-build team for construction of this 105,500-sq.-ft. building over a period of just 12 months.

BRPH Architects-Engineers of Melbourne, Fla., designed the structural-steel building. JetBlue University represented the ninth design-build collaboration between Suitt and BRPH.

JetBlue University includes six pilot flight-training simulators, two cabin simulators, a simulator control room, cabin-crew training and equipment rooms, firefighting extinguisher training station, 180- by 132- by 36-ft.-high simulator hall, classrooms, auditorium, cafeteria, outdoor heated emergency slide/raft training pool, office space and other amenities. The simulators cost roughly $90 million.

The facility can accommodate 200 permanent daytime staff and up to 300 students at once. The building is divided into two areas: the three-story administration/classroom functions and the high-bay simulator halls with their associated support spaces.

A curved three-story glass curtain wall graces the lobby. It stands out against the precast concrete and JetBlue custom-color metal panels. The lobby leads to a three-story atrium, topped with a skylight and containing live palm trees.

Upgraded wall and ceiling finishes, along with a glass and stainless-steel railing system project the corporate image.

The building had to be designed to reduce noise and vibration from the airport traffic just 3 mi. away, as well as the six simulators inside the building itself. The classrooms, conference and briefing room, auditorium and offices all feature a substantial amount of wall and ceiling insulation to prevent disruptions from the airplane traffic overhead.

The building sits between two runways. JetBlue established strict acoustical requirements and simulated the noise levels found at the site in a sound studio to analyze the different frequencies and determine what was needed to block them out.

Designers also had to prevent noise and vibration from the simulators from disturbing students in the classrooms.