SARASOTA MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM RENOVATION

SILVER WINNER

SARASOTA MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM RENOVATION

SOLSTICE PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE

The Sarasota Municipal Auditorium is one of less than a handful of historic Art Deco buildings that remain in Sarasota. It was built as a public gathering place with funding from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Work Progress Administration (WPA) program in 1937. With a $500,000 historical preservation grant from the State of Florida, the new architect was hired to update and restore the structure while also making it ADA-compliant. It was important to honor the existing architecture and strengthen it for decades of future use. New historically accurate windows on the second floor were reproduced by a local metal fabricator to match the original 1938 design. Great care was taken to re-stucco the facade. All the original glass blocks were resecured, repointed and cleaned. Entrances were reimagined to be more universally accessible, adding ramps, stainless steel railings and doorways with easier egresses. The careful renovation was completed over a one-year period and has updated this iconic structure for future generations. The result is a stunning restoration that is sensitively executed in a manner true to Thomas Reed Martin and Clarence A. Martin’s original design.

Architect: Jonathan Parks AIA. Contractor: DM Constructors, LLC, Rep Chuck Evans. Developer: City of Sarasota. Structural Engineer: Hees & Associates. Mechanical Engineer: Crawford Williams Engineering, Inc. Photographer: After photos by Ryan Gamma. Before photos by Jonathan Parks.