Save Paul Rudolph's Riverview High School : Adaptive Use Competition

Paul Rudolph’s famed Riverview High School in Sarasota, Florida is threatened with demolition to make room for a parking lot. Built in 1958, this steel and glass structure - Rudolph’s first public building - marks a transition in Rudolph’s career in that Riverview High School was his largest commission in Florida to date and allowed him the opportunity to explore compositional and technological ideas at an urban scale for the first time. The importance of Rudolph’s work here is the visual and spatial richness that he proved to be possible in American Modern architecture.

The Sarasota Architectural Foundation (SAF) has won a reprieve until March 2008 from the School District to find a viable design and financial alternative that meets the School District’s objectives and preserves this significant work that helped pioneer modernism.

To this end, SAF is sponsoring an international adaptive use design competition that will have teams of architects and developers make design and financial proposals to use the building. The Competition Jury will be comprised of practitioners and academics in the design professions, members of the Sarasota School of Architects, real estate economists, an architectural historian, and local community representatives. To date, Toshiko Mori, Charles Gwathmey, and Alex Krieger have agreed to serve on the Jury. Sir Richard Rogers has agreed to participate in the Jury deliberations. The full list of Jurors will be included in the Request for Qualifications described in the website listed below.

The Competition Schedule calls for posting of the Request for Qualifications in mid-July, a Briefing and Site Tour for interested teams in mid-August, screening of qualifications and selection of five teams (and start of the competition) in mid-September a mid-point review in mid-October, and presentations to the Jury and recommendation of a winner in mid-November.

View the Request for Qualifications (after July 15, 2007) on the Sarasota Architectural Foundation’s website.

www.sarasotaarchitecturalfoundation.org