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SARASOTA Observer

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THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012

Observer opinion | my view SARASOTA

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Explore more options at SHS Uh-oh. Here we go again. The Sarasota School Board is on the verge of stirring up again an emotional hornet’s nest over historic architecture. But if handled correctly, calmly and professionally, the wacky hysteria that sometimes infiltrates public debates here can be avoided. The center of attention is Sarasota High School, specifically portions of it that were designed by famed Sarasota School of Architecture icon, Paul Rudolph, in the late 1950s: the two-story breezeway entrance and the Rudolphdesigned gymnasium. Recently released plans from the Sarasota School District’s planning team call for the demolition of the gym and enclosing the breezeway with glass. These are parts of a $24 million plan to make the school’s buildings more efficient; to downsize the school’s structures for a lower enrollment, as required by the state standards; and to make the school more Columbine-proof, another trend that has swept the nation’s public schools. Public school officials today want to be able to enact quick “lockdowns” on campus. The Paul Rudolph breezeway clearly makes that difficult. So the district staff is proposing to enclose it. Predictably, this idea and the plans to demolish the Rudolph gym have triggered the adrenal glands of members of the Sarasota Architectural Foundation. They have visions of another Riverview High School, which, we all remember, was a rather highvoltage public hullabaloo that ultimately resulted in the destruction of another highly acclaimed Paul Rudolph-designed icon. Suffice it to say, many of the foundation’s architects and preservationists want the school district to preserve the Rudolph structures and designs at Sarasota High. We might add here their spokesman, Dan Snyder, chairman of the foundation’s Paul Rudolph Legacy Committee, says one of his group’s objectives “is to keep the dialogue civil.”

Tough dilemma for district

The issue is complex. Start with the dilemmas the district faces. They help frame the complexities and tough decisions that must be made. To be sure, the breezeway entrance was built for another time — pre-air-conditioning and pre-Columbine (the Colorado high school of mass-murder fame). As he did elsewhere, Rudolph created art and function for the time and place. But what was functional then is not altogether functional and efficient now. Lawmakers nowaday are requiring schools to be designed and built like prisons. Safety and efficiency are top priorities. Breezeways, in this era, present problems. So what do you do? • Option 1: Do you knock down the breezeway altogether and create a new entry, thereby destroying a rich, emotional

link to the past in exchange for better safety and efficiency? • Option 2: Or do you try to retrofit the historic design without tearing it down to conform with today’s state requirements? This option comes with great risk. The risk is that you end up with a structure that effectively destroys the integrity of the original design and ends up looking “gerryrigged.” What’s more, you end up spending large sums of money (especially for two stories of glass) for something that, afterward, you regret and ridicule forever. Snyder says this option would be akin to enclosing the Lincoln Memorial. In other words: out of place, costly and a mistake. • Option 3: Or, do you preserve the gym and breezeway and try to redefine or reconfigure how the historic structures can fit in with a new vision for the campus — and meet all of the safety and design requirements of modern schools? And by the way, the kicker to each of the above options is they all come with the heavy burden of figuring out how to use taxpayers’ money wisely.

Committee seeks commitments

To be sure, there are no easy answers. The district, so far, has chosen what appears to be the middle-of-the-road, tryto-pacify-the-preservationists option. That is, the glass enclosed-breezeway. It retains Rudolph’s design and brings it into code. But the Rudolphites are gasping. They would like an opportunity to work with the district on Option 3. Yet, here’s where the issue has more complexities. Option 3 is not an option because of the process the district used to get to its current plan of enclosing the breezeway and demolishing the Rudolph gym. To save money on architectural planning fees, the district used its own staff to determine the project’s overall plan and objectives. The district’s staff decided the best route would be to enclose the breezeway and destroy the gym. And this is the plan the district appears headed toward putting out for bids from architectural firms. What’s more, according to Snyder, the district has not allocated enough money for the architectural firms to explore other designs or plans than those of the district. There isn’t enough money to explore Option 3. “We (the foundation) would have to raise tens of thousands of dollars, or the school

THE CASTAWAY by Jorge Blanco

board has to put up more money,” Snyder says. Either occurrence, he says, is not likely. Nonetheless, Snyder and his committee are continuing their efforts. They have had several conversations with district officials and school board members. At this point, Snyder says, he is hoping he can persuade the district and school board to three commitments: 1) That they publicly reaffirm their commitment to save the Rudolph buildings at Sarasota High. To an extent, the district comes close to this commitment in a Feb. 17 letter from the district’s director of long-range planning. Ken Marsh writes: “The primary focus of our master plan is the renovation of building 4 (the Rudolphdesigned classrooms and breezeway). “It is an important contribution to the Sarasota School of Architecture [SSA], and the district is committed to reestablishing this building to its prior prominence, while also ensuring 21st century instructional spaces.” Snyder would like to see that commitment also extended to the Rudolph gym. Don’t demolish it, he says. Renovate the inside and give it a new use, perhaps a media center. 2) Instruct the architect who is chosen for the master plan to make the same commitment to preserving the Rudolph buildings. 3) Increase the architectural fees to allow the chosen architect to explore options for preserving the Rudolph structures with architects from the Sarasota Architectural Foundation. As Snyder notes, commitment “2” cannot occur without commitment “3.”

Small price to pay

Preserving unique architecture and historic buildings is often wrenching. They are tangible connections to history and heritage. Who doesn’t like to know how and where his ancestors lived and worked? Think of all the great museums around the world. But deciding what and how to preserve when it comes to public buildings — in this case, a public high school — takes on more difficulties because they involve public money. One taxpayer’s Paul Rudolph treasure is another taxpayer’s trash. For some, tearing down the Rudolph gym and enclosing the breezeway would be no big deal. For others, it would be tragic. But in our discussions with Snyder, he raised the valid argument that is often used here. Sarasota School of Architecture is one of this region’s unique characteristics. “They are all part of the cultural fabric of this community,” Snyder says. We hope the school district and school board can find a way to explore other options than to demolish the Rudolph gym and enclose the breezeway. In the overall scope and scheme, that would be a small price for taxpayers to pay.