A special theater at Florida Southern College is open to the public again. It is a planetarium, a place to watch shows about space. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the building, and it is his only planetarium. Workers spent almost six years repairing it and adding new equipment.
The building is in Lakeland, Florida, and workers finished it in 1958. Its first space show took place in 1960. In 2004, the machine for showing pictures stopped working. The planetarium then stayed closed for more than 20 years.
Workers put on a new roof and made repairs to keep water out. They also replaced more than 280 special tiles along the outside edges. Inside, they painted the walls and repaired the dark red floor. They removed a small computer room and put the seats back in their original circle.
The theater has 60 seats and new equipment for pictures and sound. Visitors can now watch public shows about space again. The college has 13 buildings from Wright’s designs. No other single place has as many of his buildings.
