Four nonprofit architecture-focused organizations have teamed to produce a new exhibit that highlights Sarasota’s built environment from the Native Americans who first inhabited our region to the work of 15 architectural firms practicing here today.

"Designing Sarasota: An Architectural History" will be on exhibit Jan. 12 through April 17 at the Center for Architecture Sarasota’s McCullough Pavilion, at 265 S. Orange Ave. in downtown Sarasota. CFAS is producing the exhibit along with the Sarasota Architectural Foundation, Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation and the Gulf Coast chapter of the AIA.

Divided into three eras, the exhibit will focus on the area’s early times through World War II (how the architecture of those times responded to the climate with elements like raised buildings and wide overhangs, and the adoption of robust building materials), seven architects who exemplified the now world-famous Sarasota School of Architecture, and 15 award-winning architects currently working here today.

“It’s not a highly academic exhibit,” says coordinating CFAS board member Katherine DeSousa. Rather, she says, “it’s mainly geared to visitors and residents who would like an overview of architecture in Sarasota—what’s been saved, what’s been lost and a call to action” to preserve the area’s remaining historic structures.

A maximum of 10 people will be allowed in the gallery at any one time. Interested exhibitgoers are invited to register online for timed attendance here.