When the Fulton County Aviation Community Cultural Center (FCACCC) opened its doors, the 16,200 square foot building, located adjacent to Charlie Brown Airport, provided community, educational and event space that had been sorely lacking in that area. Residents of nearby neighborhoods in the area of Fulton Industrial Boulevard had campaigned for more than a decade for a facility that would bring the community together and provide more classroom space for the area.
Their requests were heard by the project team, led by Pond & Company. Pond provided project management, comprehensive architecture, landscape architecture, structural engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, plumbing engineering, civil engineering, telecommunications engineering and fire protection engineering services. The center was designed by Pond, in association with Harclerode Architects, which provided architectural programming and community meeting presentations.
Through public input the facility eventually grew into a community center, event, exhibit and museum space. The project was funded in part by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The resulting $5.1 million facility serves three overarching purposes: 1) to provide training opportunities and educational resources to encourage careers in aviation, and to showcase local aviation history, particularly African-American contributions; 2) to provide a large multi-purpose room and larger outdoor plaza and greenspace for civic meetings, events and activities; and 3) to provide space for visual art exhibitions and instruction. Since opening, the FCACCC serves over 10,000 patrons per year.
The FCACCC is easy to spot among its surroundings—the building has brightly colored accents and a large sculptural element shaped like a lightning bolt above the research library windows.
The “Red Bolt” serves as the focal point of the building, and the entrances underneath it lead into art galleries on either side of the library. One gallery is dedicated to art, photography and objects related to aviation, particularly African-Americans in aviation. The other gallery offers space for local or travelling artists’ exhibits.
The facility also has outdoor event space. Behind the building is a large open greenspace called the “Field of Flight”, which was set aside for children to have a place to fly model airplanes as part of educational camps and classes. The center offers aviation-inspired educational camps, to encourage the next generation of budding aviators.
The Georgia Chapter of the ACEC (American Council of Engineering Companies) awarded this project with a Merit Award in 2015.