Page 46 - 2017-01-02

PARTNERS IN BUSINESS & LIFE
VALLI & JOE SORCI
business organization, which allows me to be uplifting and passionate. If I didn't have her doing that, I don't know...
PC Living: You both take a lot of pride in what you do. What were your biggest moments of success? Is there ever a time when it gets tough?
Valli Sorci: The most fun part is the brainstorming, when I get to sit in workshops, bouncing ideas o with people. It could be the president of the college, or other people who are involved, especially when we are talking about improving facilities where kids will be educated. We are looking at the upcoming workforce, and upcoming leaders... they are 10 or 12 years old now and they are our future.
Joe Sorci: We have and are designing facilities for kids, K12 all the way to university age. We see a cross section, and we see gaps, we see bridges. We have actually helped some institutions create new educational models and those models are highly successful.
PC Living: You helped develop educational models based on your architecture?
Joe Sorci: Yes. People don't realize that when you are focused in a segment for 35 years, you see and learn a lot. We've traveled all over
the U.S. to see the latest and greatest and have invested a lot of time in research. We see things from a di erent perspective. We could talk for hours, probably days, about the e ects of environment in education. The same holds true for businesses of any kind. Once you understand there is a basic framework, [and] what those elements are, depending on how you put them together, you can have a high impact and e ect on the operation of a business or facility and the user experience. The magic happens when you create from the program needs and you connect dots. The ATC at Gulf Coast State College is a good example. The way the culinary program exposes out to the corridor and you can see the bakery. You can see the students making chocolate. Just as the dining room opens into the lobby and ows out. It's those connections, those dots, which bring life to the buildings. When that happens, there's an
energy that ows and the occupants, the users, the visitors all feel it. They connect to that, and they increase that energy. They all like being there. When you do that, you've been successful.
PC Living: Last question. For Valentine’s day, what do you do? Do you go out together?
Valli Sorci: Is there a deadline? (laughs)
PC Living: Yes, the deadline is February 14th. Valentine’s day, that's
your deadline.
Valli Sorci: Valentine’s day, no. It's just nice not to have to meet a deadline, because we're so driven by deadlines with everything else that we do.
Joe Sorci: I hate to be disappointing in that area. We're traveling tandem every day, and we don't need that hard date thing to celebrate. We celebrate when we can and when it feels the best. We may take a trip, and we may do something and set our goal on being able to do that, which is more important to us.
Valli Sorci: Sometimes we are excited to nd out, "Hey, we don't have anything we have to do today. (gasps) Hey!" (laughs)
PC Living: You're not running with the crowd. You're waiting for the moment when it's right for you.
Joe Sorci: I think that's probably a good way to put it. Valli Sorci: We avoid the crowd.
Florida Architects is located on 648 Florida Ave., Panama City
oridaarchitects.com
46 • January - February 2017 • www.PanamaCityLiving.com