SUN CITY – We all enjoy sun-lit rooms, don’t we? We build them in our homes, and in hospitals, therapy centers, and recreational centers. They help us grow plants and flowers indoors, and provide attractive spaces for family and group activities.
About 18 years ago, Del Webb built a very nice solarium (literally translated as sun room) in Sun City’s Prairie Lodge. It had a glass ceiling, and large glass windows on three sides. It was designed as a social, eating, and meeting space for community groups and family parties and events. It also was frequently used as a small staging area for entertainment events in Drendel Ballroom.
Its purpose was to maximize the amount of natural light in an interior space, and it succeeded beyond expectations.
Today, however, the community’s leaders have found out that there also is such a thing as too much sunlight.
Due to the glass ceiling, too much sunlight has damaged furnishings inside the solarium, which is set for a remodel in July/August. (Photo by Tony Pratt/Sun Day)
After several months of discussions, and meetings with contractors and design firms, the board of directors decided in March that a complete makeover of this space, which is located next to Jameson’s Restaurant, is in order.
This summer, the structure will be demolished down to its foundation and a new Solarium will replace it, at the same location. The new one will have a solid instead of a glass roof, but the same “windows all around.” It will have new fabrics and carpeting, and will be the same size as the current one.
“We have discovered in recent months that there was too much sunlight that was negatively affecting the furnishings and fabrics in the room, and it was not compatible with the air-conditioning system,” said Board President Dennis Leary. “It also was frequently not a comfortable place. This new one will be more comfortable, temperature-friendly, and be more inviting.”
The board’s maintenance staff worked with Reike Office Interiors (ROI) and an area architectural design firm, to develop the current project. O’Leary said it will probably be completed during the months of July and August.
The cost will be $185,980, and will be funded by the community’s consolidated reserve budget.
Other major upgrade projects this year include resurfacing of the Meadow View Lodge and Arcadia building parking lots, remodeling of the art room in Prairie Lodge, exterior and interior upgrades to the Millgrove Woodshop on Sun City Boulevard, replacement of roof shingles on Prairie Lodge, and remodeling of several bathrooms in Prairie Lodge.
The year 2018 is the first year of a new five-year consolidated reserve budget plan developed last year by the management staff and board of directors.
