Catching up with the news

There has been much acticity in the last couple weeks concerning the positive steps toward saving the Rudolph building on the Riverview High campus. Excerpts from these news stories are as follows:


Mar 20
Group offers Riverview plan
Idea would save Paul Rudolph buildings, raise cost of project
By LIZ BABIARZ Sarasota Herald Tribune

SARASOTA COUNTY -- A committee seeking to preserve historic buildings at Riverview High School will recommend to the School Board today that the new campus include a raised soccer field and tennis court that would have parking space underneath.The group met this weekend to explore alternatives to the district's plan for Riverview, which includes building a new school and razing the courtyard buildings -- designed by famed architect Paul Rudolph -- to make room for a parking lot.

Mar 21
Riverview's future hinges on $20 million
School Board gives preservationists one year to raise funds to save the Rudolph buildings.
By LIZ BABIARZ Sarasota Herald Tribune

SARASOTA COUNTY -- The fate of the historic buildings at Riverview High now hinges on a group's ability to raise millions of dollars.The School Board on Tuesday agreed to give a group of preservationists one year to come up with roughly $20 million for an innovative parking solution that would allow the buildings, designed by famed architect Paul Rudolph, to remain on campus.Instead of razing the Rudolph buildings to make room for a parking lot as the district planned, the group wants the district to build an elevated soccer field and six tennis courts -- with parking space underneath -- in the campus' southeast corner.For about an additional $11 million, the Rudolph buildings would be restored for an alternative use, possibly a satellite campus for a university, housing for teachers or an art museum.But that's only if the group, called the Save Riverview Committee, can come up with a partner and secure the funding by March 2008, the School Board said.

Mar 22 SHT Editorial
Compromise built on trust
Proposal to save Riverview High buildings is daunting but fair
Principled compromises, progressive thinking and constructive debate were the products of a recent workshop that explored alternatives to the demolition of Riverview High School's signature buildings, tired but notable pieces of modern architecture.Not bad for a weekend of intense work by local preservationists and architects, Sarasota County School District representatives and facilitators from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.Actually, the process and the results were amazing in light of the time constraints, the parameters of the task and the polarized views of key participants.

Mar 24
RHS plan is 'win-win'
Like the architecture it is meant to protect, the National Trust/Save Riverview Committee's alternative plan for Sarasota's Riverview High School is a stroke of simple genius -- aside from the issue of paying for it.

Saving the Paul Rudolph-designed buildings on the school's cramped campus by putting soccer fields and tennis courts atop a large parking garage is a "win-win," says School Board attorney Lamar Matthews.

Because the estimated $15 million cost would be raised from private sources, the plan would neither add to the cost of the new school facility nor delay its construction -- key requirements for the School Board.

Rudolph Pictures - including Riverview