This conversation will overview the research of Paul Rudolph's teaching methodology as Chair of the Architecture Department at Yale during 1958-1965, conducted by Fulbright visiting scholar Gabriel Hernández. During this directorship, Rudolph had the extraordinary opportunity to turn his teaching methods into a seminal yet polemical building - the Architecture and Art Building at Yale, creating one of the architectural teaching milestones of the 1960s American context.

Pairing Gabriel with Carl Abbott, considered one of the most relevant architects of the Sarasota School and a student at Yale during Rudolph's directorship, both will engage in a conversation that will assess the impacts of Rudolph's pedagogies, its connections to the spaces where architecture was taught and its implications in architectural practice.

About Carl:
Heralded as the last member of the famed Sarasota School of Architecture, Carl Abbott was born near Darien, Georgia in 1936 and moved to Ft. Meyers, Florida in 1951. After receiving his BArch cum laude from the University of Florida in Gainesville, he worked in Bert Brosmith’s Sarasota office, then studied at Yale under both Paul Rudolph and Louis Kahn, where he received his MArch in 1962.

Abbott is the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions and has worked in Hawaii, in New York with I.M. Pei and in London with fellow Yale classmates Lord Richard Rogers and Lord Norman Foster. He has lectured extensively and taught studios at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. His architectural office has been based in Sarasota, Florida for over 50 years. His most recent commission is a residence on Casey Key completed in 2019.

About Gabriel:
Gabriel Hernández (Canary Islands, Spain) is an architect, researcher and educator. His work pivots on graphic tools and creative processes, focusing on the global scale of the connections between architecture, art, design and landscape. He is currently a Fulbright Visiting Scholar and a UPM Doctoral Fellow at Yale School of Architecture.

Additional research stays include ENSA Paris La Villette, CUJAE in Havana, and CEPT Ahmedabad in India. Trained as an architect at ETSAM/UPM and as an editorial designer by the European Institute of Design Madrid, Gabriel has served as an Adjunct Professor of Architectural Analysis and Dean’s Delegate at Universidad Politécnica e Madrid (UPM) and an Adjunct Professor of Design History at IE University. Additionally, he has been a lecturer and guest critic at the Architectural Association (AA), Manchester University and ESD Madrid.

Founded in 1995, Docomomo US coordinates a coalition of regional and statewide chapters dedicated to preserving modern architecture, landscapes, and design. Executive Director Liz Waytkus will reflect on the work of Docomomo US ten years after the first National Symposium held in Sarasota, including a range of advocacy actions and programs to help raise awareness and promote the conservation and stewardship of modernist heritage. The presentation will conclude with a brief overview of the Florida Mid-Century Modern Architecture (1945-1975) study and report. Undertaken by Architecture Sarasota President Marty Hylton, the project received the 2020 Modernism in America Award of Excellence for Documentation.

Pushing boundaries to preserve modern architecture, landscapes, and design through principled advocacy, collaboration, and celebration

Guest Speaker: Liz Waytkus

About Liz:

Liz Waytkus is the Executive Director of Docomomo US. In her ten plus years at Docomomo US, Ms. Waytkus is responsible for the development of new programming including the annual Docomomo US National Symposium and the Modernism in America Awards. Ms. Waytkus manages Docomomo US’ advocacy efforts throughout the vast Docomomo US network and spear-headed efforts to Landmark the Ambassador Grill and the AT&T Building in New York City. Ms. Waytkus received her Master of Science in Historic Preservation from Pratt Institute and previously worked in the non-profit cultural and educational fields for more than a decade.

Architecture Sarasota’s newly appointed President, Morris (Marty) Hylton III, will join Toshiko Mori in a public conversation about her practice before honoring her that evening at an award ceremony and benefit gala — Architecture Sarasota's largest annual fundraising event.

About the Philip Hanson Hiss Award:

The Philip Hanson Hiss Award was established to honor today’s pioneers of innovative design within the built environment, and to celebrate the contributions of Philip Hanson Hiss III (1910-1988), the primary catalyst, impresario and promoter of the Sarasota School of Architecture — a modern architecture movement that addressed the distinct geographic, climatic, and socio-cultural context of South Florida’s Gulf Coast region.

About Toshiko Mori:

Throughout her nearly four-decade long career Mori has established herself as a leader of contemporary architectural thought through a practice characterized by site-specificity and innovation, both in material and design, solving the unique sets of challenges presented by a given landscape. Born in Kobe, Japan, and educated at the Cooper Union in New York, Mori is also a distinguished educator — in 1995, she became the first woman to receive tenure at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. This facet of her career is also reflected in her architectural practice, with the buildings of many educational and public institutions — from the Fass School and Teachers’ Residence in Senegal to the Brooklyn Public Library. Having described herself as being engaged in a game of chess with the great names of American Modernism, including members of the Sarasota School, she has upheld the intellectual underpinnings of the movement. This is exemplified in the restoration projects in her portfolio, notably including the addition of two pavilions to the Rudolph-designed Burkhardt-Cohen House property, just outside of Sarasota, which will be discussed during the conversation between Mori and Hylton.