Spirit of Sarasota

Vote for Your Favorite Building in the 2018 Spirit of Sarasota People's Choice Architecture Awards

Click through, then cast your vote.

June 6, 2018

Alfred R. Goldstein Library

The new library at Ringling College of Art and Design truly reflects the creative community and creates a center for learning at the heart of its expanding campus. The library’s form defines the spaces that surround it, with a robust program that engages and animates them. This transformative facility has become a destination for students and faculty and one can find students reading, sketching, or collaborating in all corners of the building.

Alfred R. Goldstein Library

Photography by Courtesy Photo

Alfred R. Goldstein Library

Anna Maria Residence

Closely bounded by setbacks and elevated a full story to meet a high flood elevation, this 3,500-square-foot house reconnects with the grade below by descending to an elevated pool, to a deck, and to stadium-like seating down to the front yard. Double height volumes placed at opposite corners of the house tie the living levels together and add spatial interest to the circulation. Views extend through the different rooms to the outside.

Anna Maria Residence

Fruitville Elementary School Classroom Addition

This 29,000-square-foot, two-story classroom building provides 18 classrooms, 8 being for students with autism and special needs. The building is centrally located, allowing the students with autism to be better integrated within the campus. The north and west facades are clad in brick veneer, with pronounced accent bands. The east and west facades have stucco surfaces which appear to fold down from the roof, and erode to reveal decorative stairs clad in colorful panels.

Fruitville Elementary School Classroom Addition

Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

The Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion continues the John and Mable Ringling Museum tradition of innovative architecture to serve the arts. The Glass Pavilion offers a contrasting backdrop to the historic Ringling Gate House, welcoming visitors to the Ringling campus. At 5,500 square feet, the multifaceted addition to the Visitor’s Pavilion houses a world-class glass art collection, serves as the reception lobby for the historic Asolo Theater, and provides a dance rehearsal studio and dressing rooms.

Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

Phillippi Creek Residence

Situated on a bend of Phillippi Creek, the residence sits on one edge of a triangular lot and shifts parallel to the water’s edge. Two large roof overhangs extend throughout the design to create ample shade and encourage interaction with the Florida climate. They unify different elements of the program and give prominence to the main living spaces. An upper level balcony over the entrance offers a viewing platform to catch views of the sunset.

Phillippi Creek Residence

Photography by Courtesy Photo

Sarasota County Fire Stations #12, #14, #16, #17

Inspired by the MJ-1864 classic house plan of Eichler Homes development of the ‘50s and ‘60s, so relevant given the many midcentury ranch homes neighborhoods that these LEED Silver fire stations are located in, the designs take the central apparatus bays to be the atrium of the ‘house’ around which the rest of the program revolves. Large expanses of floor-to-ceiling glass provide natural light and relate to the neighboring ranch homes.

Sarasota County Fire Stations #12, #14, #16, #17

Siesta Condo Renovation

Two corner units on the 15th floor of Siesta Key’s Terrace Building were combined and all interior partitions were removed. The concrete slab ceiling was exposed and service spaces located in a central wood-clad core. Seven-panel bi-fold glass doors open out from the structural corners. Ten-foot-wide steel and wood folding partitions create different spatial layouts. The master bath borrows light from an adjoining space through a window with a switchable electric film.

Siesta Condo Renovation

Siesta Key New Public Pavilion : East Concessions

The project improves a public beach park with new amenities: esplanade, restroom structure, and concessions. They are designed as a “park within a park.” The building design was inspired by the angular geometry of Siesta Key beach’s renowned quartz sand. Sited at the edge of the dune line and elevated as required by code, the building offers panoramic views of the Gulf of Mexico and offers elevated pedestrian circulation that winds through coastal vegetation.

Siesta Key New Public Pavilion: East Concessions

Strandhus II

Envisioned as a modern retreat for the owner to enjoy the top 100 books one should read in a lifetime and a retreat where landscape and architecture are integrated into a cohesive whole. Designed to allow spaces to seamlessly integrate with the landscape, this addition to a 2012 renovation is connected to the main house through a glass hallway, opening to the gardens through sliding doors. Connection to the outside is experienced throughout the addition.

Strandhus II

Venice Residence

The 50-foot-wide site is one house removed from the Gulf of Mexico and a larger residence to the west obstructs the view. The design takes advantage of two view corridors through the setbacks of the neighboring lots: living room looks northwest, kitchen looks southwest—corresponding to the summer and winter sunsets. The house is divided into two wings, connected by a courtyard, with the main living quarters elevated to take full advantage of the views.

Venice Residence

These 10 entries for the 2018 Spirit of Sarasota Architecture Award were recognized on June 5 as winners in various categories of the AIA Florida Gulf Coast Chapter’s biennial Design Awards. They were chosen by a distinguished jury of peers, all members of the American Institute of Architects Charleston Chapter.

Now it’s your turn. Help pick the “people’s choice” award—the Spirit of Sarasota Award—from these 10 winners. Click through the slideshow, then cast your vote below.

And you can view photos of the 10 winners, plus the two Unbuilt Award winners, on exhibit at the Center for Architecture Sarasota through June 22. Click here for details about that and other Sarasota Architecture Week events.

Spirit of Sarasota

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