ArchitectureUnited States · Now open for tours
Frank Lloyd Wright's only planetarium reopens at Florida Southern College
After years largely closed, Wright's Planetarium has its circular seating, Cherokee Red floor and textile tiles back, and welcomes public visitors.
Frank Lloyd Wright designed only one planetarium, and it sits at the end of the Polk County Science Building at Florida Southern College, the only campus he masterplanned. It had been largely shut since 2004, when its projection system failed. Now, guided by resident campus architect Jeff Baker of MCWB Architects, who has spent twenty years on the college's Wright buildings, it has been carefully brought back.
The exterior came first, from 2021: a new roof, repaired stucco and more than 280 hand-cast "textile" tiles replaced around the perimeter. Inside, work began in 2023. A 1980s computer closet was removed, freeing the room so local craftsmen could restore Wright's plywood seats with coloured vinyl upholstery and set them back in their original circle, which Baker calls a rare survival among American planetariums. Original paint and plaster returned, along with a Cherokee Red floor, while new technology and audio were threaded through a building with, as Baker puts it, nowhere to hide them.
It is one of thirteen Wright buildings on a campus that is a National Historic Landmark and the largest single-site collection of his work. The Planetarium is now open to the public for tours and screenings; pair it with the Waterdome fountain, the Esplanades and the Annie Pfieffer Chapel.
Our summary of a story from Dezeen, published 15 October 2026. Read the original
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From Dezeen