Welcome to the Archives of The Paul Rudolph Institute for Modern Architecture. The purpose of this online collection is to function as a tool for scholars, students, architects, preservationists, journalists and other interested parties. The archive consists of photographs, slides, articles and publications from Rudolph’s lifetime; physical drawings and models; personal photos and memorabilia; and contemporary photographs and articles.

Some of the materials are in the public domain, some are offered under Creative Commons, and some are owned by others, including the Paul Rudolph Estate. Please speak with a representative of The Paul Rudolph Institute for Modern Architecture before using any drawings or photos in the Archives. In all cases, the researcher shall determine how to appropriately publish or otherwise distribute the materials found in this collection, while maintaining appropriate protection of the applicable intellectual property rights.

In his will, Paul Rudolph gave his Architectural Archives (including drawings, plans, renderings, blueprints, models and other materials prepared in connection with his professional practice of architecture) to the Library of Congress Trust Fund following his death in 1997. A Stipulation of Settlement, signed on June 6, 2001 between the Paul Rudolph Estate and the Library of Congress Trust Fund, resulted in the transfer of those items to the Library of Congress among the Architectural Archives, that the Library of Congress determined suitable for its collections. The intellectual property rights of items transferred to the Library of Congress are in the public domain. The usage of the Paul M. Rudolph Archive at the Library of Congress and any intellectual property rights are governed by the Library of Congress Rights and Permissions.

However, the Library of Congress has not received the entirety of the Paul Rudolph architectural works, and therefore ownership and intellectual property rights of any materials that were not selected by the Library of Congress may not be in the public domain and may belong to the Paul Rudolph Estate.

LOCATION
Address: 1000 South School Avenue
City: Sarasota
State: Florida
Zip Code: 34237
Nation: United States

STATUS
Type: Academic
Status: Built

TECHNICAL DATA
Date(s): 1958-1960
Site Area:
Floor Area: 78,437 s.f.
Height:
Floors (Above Ground): 2
Building Cost: $1,038,000 USD (excluding fees, equipment and site development); $13.37 per s.f.

PROFESSIONAL TEAM
Client: Sarasota Board of Instruction; Philip Hiss, Chairman
Architect: Paul M. Rudolph
Rudolph Staff: Bert Brosmith; Edwin William de Cossy
Associate Architect:
Landscape:
Structural: Sydney L. Barker
MEP: Charles T. Healey
Civil: Smally, Willford and Nalven
QS/PM:

SUPPLIERS
Contractor: Coe Construction Company
Subcontractor(s):

Sarasota High School Addition

The distinct folded concrete planes are placed in a coordinated pattern to place emphasis on the play of light and shadow along the facade of the structure.
Rudolph lifts the roof above the stack of interior corridors, supplying the space for a line of clerestories, which supply air ventilation and natural day lighting. The roof is then connected to the columns that support an array of sunshades.
The exterior glass structure is cased with brise-soleil that protects the building from direct heat gain.
On January 20, 1959 final plans are presented at a meeting of the Sarasota County School Board by Rudolph office staff Bert Brosmith (1928-2015) and Edwin William de Cossy (1930-).
The project wins an AIA Merit Award in 1962
The project is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on June 27, 2012.
On September 22, 2021 an Advocacy Award of Excellence for the preservation and restoration of the building is given by Docomomo US to the Sarasota Architectural Foundation, Carl Abbott, FAIA and Jonathan Parks, AIA.

“An effort has been made in this building to make the mechanical space eloquent and integrated into the whole, rather than an appendage cutting the pure structure indicriminately. Mechanical systems should not render our buildings like Swiss cheese.”

— Paul Rudolph, Architectural Record March 1959

“Rather than underscore the mass of the structure and the volume (in the best Corbusian tradition), the architect seemed more concerned with the play of intersecting and parallel surfaces. This quality is emphasized in the way in which the brises-soleils are suspended out and away from the main volume instead of being integrated with it.”

— John Jacobus. Twentieth Century Architecture : The Middle Years 1940-1965. New York: Praeger, 1966.

“This building is intended to suggest the uniqueness of the Florida climate through carefully arranged sun shields and interior ventilating and lighting scopes. Its concrete structural frame is bent in such a way as to create hollow boxes at every bay, thereby accommodating an integral mechanical system. Planes in space which allow the building to be understood from great distances are utilized rather than the linear organizations of earlier buildings. The open-ended aspect of the building allows it to grow: thuse the notion that no building is ever fixed and complete within itself is made clear. ”

— Paul Rudolph in Moholy-Nagy, Sibyl, and Gerhard Schwab. The Architecture of Paul Rudolph. New York: Praeger, 1970. P. 62

“The second Sarasota High School was a move from clear form, from clear structure, from lineal structural elements defining space, to the organization of planes in space. It depends much more on the space and the handling of light, which really meant planes rather than linear elements, which in turn commenced my investigations into scale… I’m affected by everything I see. I make no bones about it. I haven’t invented anything in my life. For instance, the entrance to the Sarasota High School can be traced directly to Corbusier’s High Court Building in Chandigarh.”

— Paul Rudolph in Cook, John Wesley. Conversations with Architects : Philip Johnson, Kevin Roche, Paul Rudolph, Bertrand Goldberg, Morris Lapidus, Louis Kahn, Charles Moore, Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown. New York: Praeger, 1973. p. 95