News

From a recent Pelican Press article:

Presentation on Music Quadrangle 'fires up' attendees

By Rachel Brown Hackney

Local preservationists working to save the original Paul Rudolph building at Riverview High School in Sarasota say they were pleased with the turnout last week at a fundraiser hosted by Northern Trust at its Ringling Boulevard offices.

More than 60 people - including Sarasota County School Board member Carol Todd - heard a revised presentation by New York City architect Diane Lewis about her plans for transforming the building into the Riverview Music Quadrangle. The plans call not only for use of the structure by students but as a setting for nationally and internationally known musicians who could work as artists in residence.

When the school board voted on March 4 to give the Sarasota Architectural Foundation a three-month extension on its efforts to put together a viable plan for the Music Quadrangle, Todd was an enthusiastic supporter of the project. She initially proposed the board give the SAF a six-month extension, before staff said that would hamper the August 2009 completion date for the new school if the Rudolph building ultimately had to be demolished.

Referring to the April 2 event, former Sarasota Mayor Mollie Cardamone told the Pelican Press, "I believe that we educated a lot of people as to the importance of our job" - to save the Rudolph building. Lewis "dazzled the audience" with her vision and with her talk of the significance of the building as an example of the Sarasota School of Architecture, Cardamone added.

Links: The rest of the story

Laurie Beckelman

Riverview in the News

A good article in Metropolis:

Indigenous Design
Architecture in the twenty-first century can be intensely local—but only if we stop, look, and understand site and regional conditions.
By Susan S. Szenasy
Posted March 19, 2008

The process continues

The latest information from Sarasota:

From the Pelican Press:

Group wins reprieve for Rudolph buildin
By Rachel Brown Hackney

The request was for six months, the staff proposed six weeks, but in the end, the Sarasota County School Board voted 4-1 on March 4 to give the Sarasota Architectural Foundation a three-month extension to get plans and funds in place to save the historic Paul Rudolph structure at Riverview High School.

The lone "No" vote came from board member Frank Kovach, who has made his position known on numerous occasions that he would prefer to see the building razed on the campus where new facilities are scheduled to open for the 2009-2010 school year.

Kovach said the board had given the Revive Rudolph's Riverview group and SAF a year since a design charrette organized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation was held in March 2007 to find a way to save the 1958 Rudolph building, "and I have not seen any kind of forward motion."

However, board member Carol Todd pointed to a presentation earlier in the evening about the plans for transforming the original 1920s Sarasota High School building into a museum of modern and contemporary art along with studios for Ringling College of Art and Design students."

If anyone had told me when I voted [to allow the museum plans to go forward] that they would be where they are today," Todd said, she would not have believed them. "I am awed by where they are today."

Further, Todd said, "How do you ask people for millions of dollars if you don't have [a firm] commitment" from the school board. It would be a good faith effort, she added, for the board to give the SAF the full six-month extension.

Board member Shirley Brown agreed that it would be hard for the SAF to raise money without a commitment from the board. Still, she said she felt the board first needs to see where the group was with its efforts to save the structure.

"Does this plan have dollars in it that make sense?" When Vice Chairman Caroline Zucker asked whether a three-month extension would have any negative impact on the construction of the new school, Chief Operating Officer Scott Lempe responded that it would not. However, he said, "Six months makes me real nervous."

Kovach also pointed out that the Music Quadrangle plan for the building, envisioned by New York City architect Diane Lewis, was not the type of future the board had foreseen when it approved an April 17, 2007, resolution with the SAF. "

They seem to want to use our resources.""All I hear is 'we,' 'they,' 'we,' 'they,' " Todd responded. "Are we going to partner with them or are we going to parcel out the barrels so they will never be successful?"

Superintendent Gary Norris told the board an SAF representative had phoned him to say that district staff "had potentially delayed them by six weeks" in working on their site plans and fundraising. " I told him immediately I wanted to make it right." That was why staff had suggested the six-week extension, he added.

Chairman Kathy Kleinlein noted that Lewis' design entails moving athletic fields and reconfiguring other parts of the new campus - something that was not a factor with the historic SHS building. However, she added, "I like the idea of the Music Quadrangle. ... I would be in favor of giving them three months more. I think that's more than fair."

After the vote, SAF Chairman Les Fishman told the Pelican Press, "Three months is better than nothing." As Todd had pointed out, he continued, it was difficult to raise funds without a commitment from the board.Further, he said that, in light of the economic downturn, it would be very difficult in the Sarasota area, or even in the United States, to raise all the money needed to save the building. However, with Rudolph fans all over the world, he said, the SAF, could seek international support.

Mark Smith of Siesta Key, immediate past president of the Florida Association of the American Institute of Architects, was delighted on March 5 to hear about the board's vote. " That's excellent. That's much, much better."

A civil engineer with the WilsonMiller firm in Naples is working with SAF to oversee the necessary site work to enable Lewis' plan to blend with the new Riverview, he said. The first round of fundraising for the Lewis plan will cover that consultant's expenses, he added."It's such a worthwhile project," he said of the Music Quadrangle. "I'm glad that the school board's giving it every opportunity to succeed."
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Earlier articles in the Pelican Press describing the process are listed below:

http://www.pelicannews.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=4669&SectionID=130&S=1

http://www.pelicannews.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=4542&SectionID=132&S=1

Current Status of Saving the Rudolph Building

The Pelican Press has an editorial this week that summarizes the current status of this effort:

Rudolph building finally has real hope for rescue

A year and a half ago, we would have laid better than even odds that the original Paul Rudolph structure at Riverview High School ultimately would face the wrecking ball. Now this community has before it a clear vision for the building's rescue and resurrection.

Fortunately both the conservationists fighting to save this fine example of the Sarasota School of Architecture and the Sarasota County School Board members were able to push beyond their almost childlike petulance in debating its future and work toward common ground. They managed to pave the way for what we find is a magnificent means of saving a piece of history while making Sarasota's cultural star shine even more brightly.

The intervention of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in holding a "charrette" last March to ponder just how the Rudolph building could be saved was invaluable in this process. As a result, the Sarasota Architectural Foundation was able to fund and hold a competition seeking a viable future for the structure. That competition produced a proposal for a Music Quadrangle that would build upon Riverview's much-deserved reputation as a Music Demonstration School in this state.

The SAF will have until March 15 to prove that the Music Quadrangle is more than just a designer's dream, but given architect Diane Lewis' passion for her proposal, we truly believe it can become a reality.

Speak to Lewis for just a few minutes and you will know not only that she is absolutely committed to saving the Rudolph building and restoring it to its former luster but that she wants to use her many resources to expand on just the type of activity that the Itzhak Perlman Music Program has become for Sarasota. She wants to see other world-class musicians as artists in residence working with young people on the Riverview campus, and musical programs open to the public to showcase internationally known stars and the next generation who will be following in their footsteps.

When the school board met with Lewis and SAF epresentatives on Dec. 11, we heard a lot of concerns raised about the work that will have to be done - with the new school already under way - to make the Music Quadrangle fit on the redeveloped campus. Yet, we also heard Diane Lewis say those obstacles are in no way insurmountable.

Of course, the final act in this process belongs to the school board. Come March, its five members will decide once and for all whether Paul Rudolph's original vision for Riverview High will be burnished in a new use or left only as a memory in the pages of architectural students' textbooks.

If Diane Lewis and the SAF fulfill their part of the bargain, as we believe they will, then it should be very easy for the school board to give them their blessings to proceed.

In the Sarasota Herald Tribune there is a podcast of the Herald Tribune's real estate editor, Harold Bubil, interview with Diane Lewis. It is titled:

The case for Rudolph's Riverview
Architect Diane Lewis explains her team's proposal for the reuse of the Paul Rudolph-designed building at Riverview High School. The world is watching, she says.

News About the "Save Riverview" Proposals

Four proposals were selected for review by the jury and the school board.

Local news articles about the status of saving the Riverview are in the Sarasota Herald Tribume and the Pelican Press.

A Pelican Press article about the selection process is here.

The public meeting tonight to view the selection results was well attended. Diane Lewis , architect for the chosen design, participated via telephone from New York. The proposal is exciting and was very well recieved.

More news and graphics will be posted when they are available.

Invitation from Sarasota Architectural Foundation

The SARASOTA ARCHITECTURAL FOUNDATION in association with SCOPE and the SARASOTA COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL presents:

Revive Rudolph's Riverview –
Campaign For Preservation & Recommended Adaptive Use Design

When: Thursday, November 29th, 2007
Time: 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Where: Roskamp Center for the Arts & Humanity
1226 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota

SAF will discuss the campaign for preserving Paul Rudolph's Riverview High School, including a showing of the Metropolis film Site Specific.

Mark Smith, AIA FL President and member of the Revive Rudolph’s Riverview Committee will discuss the program.

The team that submitted the recommended adaptive use design – RMJM Hillier with Diane Lewis Architect and Beckelman+ Capalino, LLC, New York, NY, with Seibert Architects, Sarasota, FL – will present their proposal for the Riverview Music Quadrangle.

There will also be a display of the proposals by the other three finalist teams:
Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects, Atlanta, GA, in association with John McAslan + Partners, London; Mark S. Kauffman, Developer, The ADP Group, Architects, Sarasota, FL; and The Folsom Group and TOTeMS Architecture, Inc. Sarasota, FL.

This event is free and open to the public.

If you have any questions, please contact:
Samantha Allard
Sarasota Architectural Foundation
941.365.4723
www.sarasotaarchitecturalfoundation.org

Riverview Building Close to Being Saved

Harold Bubil has commented on progress made this past week toward saving the Paul Rudolph designed Riverview high School. The school board is in the process of rebuilding the entire campus, but has allowed proposals for saving the Rudolph building if the cost is not increased and the timetable is not delayed.

Harold's column says in part:

There's still a long way to go, but the effort to save the Paul Rudolph-designed buildings at Riverview High took a big step this week.

The Sarasota Architectural Foundation's Revive Rudolph's Riverview committee presented proposals to the Sarasota County School Board, which is building a new complex at the 42-acre site on Proctor Road.

Five architect-developer teams participated in the Request for Proposals process; one team withdrew. The four remaining proposals were ranked in order and presented to the School Board on Tuesday.

The first-ranked proposal, which called for an adaptive use that would join the historic and new RHS buildings, was dismissed by School Board members because it did not fit the criteria set forth by the board: the Rudolph project could not delay or add cost to the new RHS project.

That leaves the second-ranked proposal -- something called the Riverview Music Quadrangle.

Submitted by the design team of RMJM Hillier, with Diane Lewis Architect and Beckelman+Capalino of New York, and Seibert Architects of Sarasota, this plan calls for "a collaborative environment for new and existing Sarasota music activities," according to a statement by the Revive Rudolph's Riverview committee. "It would complement the Riverview High School and other Sarasota County school music programs, and it would provide studio space and performance venues for community groups and orchestras."

This and other proposals will be shown to the public on at 5 PM, Thursday (Nov 29) at the Roskamp Center on the North Trail.

More information can be found at the SAF Revive Riverview site.