Essential Intelligence About the Sarasota School of Architecture


With so numerous new inhabitants flocking to Sarasota, there’s anything they ought to know outside the house of its stunning beach locations and thriving arts scene.
Sarasota is floor zero for a midcentury modern architectural movement identified as the Sarasota University of Architecture. If you skipped out on the yearly Sarasota MOD Weekend, which celebrates the movement with property tours, symposiums and additional, help you save the date for the 10th anniversary function following 12 months.
In the meantime, listed here are some principles about the Sarasota School—plus photos from this year’s event—to enable you sound like a extended-time aficionado.
Historical past
The article-Globe War II Sarasota School motion lasted from just 1941 to 1966 but remaining an indelible mark. Its most heralded names involve Philip Hiss, Ralph Twitchell, Paul Rudolph, Victor Lundy, Jack West and Gene Leedy. Lots of of the unique Sarasota University households are in the Lido Shores community, but other illustrations from the school can also be identified on Siesta Crucial and all over the metropolis. Some even phase outdoors the residential scope, like Sarasota High College and the South Gate Local community Center.
Some of the additional legendary properties involve the Zigzag Household, Umbrella House and Hiss Studio. The Revere High quality Residence and Cocoon Dwelling on Siesta Key are other key examples of the design.
The designs incorporated new supplies for the time, such as terrazzo, concrete and even copper. They also applied community resources, like cypress and cedar wood. Signature architectural options consist of broad roof overhangs, basic traces, louvered walls and shutters, and open ground programs. The strategy was to react to the area climate, with impressive means of capturing and deflecting purely natural gentle, shade and ventilation.
The outcomes make for gorgeous and straightforward areas that are effortless to appreciate. Here’s a search at some of the Sarasota University of Architecture homes highlighted throughout this year’s MOD Weekend residence excursions in Lido Shores.
Walls Down


Responding to and living in harmony with the geography lent itself to open-strategy structures to facilitate ventilation—remember, this was in advance of AC rocked our environment.
Glass Galore


Significant panes of glass aid pure gentle and ventilation. Jalousie windows that had opening slats and sliding glass doorways were being a have to.
Developed Ins


Lots of Sarasota College residences had crafted-in storage and shelving, eschewing the have to have for totally free-standing armoires and home furnishings that can litter a house.
A Spot in The Shade


Cantilevered overhangs stored residences cooler by intercepting sunlight and furnishing shade. The a single on the Umbrella Residence, over, is the most legendary.
Clerestory Home windows


These slender, rectangular home windows are placed above eye level to illuminate interiors with pure light—typically in a row suitable under the roofline. They also offer privacy devoid of sacrificing normal light. By liberating up wall space, clerestory windows allow for for far more built-in storage (see earlier mentioned), wall art and other inside style and design features.
The Blurring of Inside and Out


Glass walls and outside seating make inside and out melt into each and every other.
The Information Are in The Absence Thereof


Sarasota University homes eschew vaulted ceilings, archways, or avoidable ornamentation. Occasionally there is a zigzag, but in any other case, architectural lines continue to be horizontal and vertical, for a clean up, uncomplicated glimpse.
Although revered by historians, architects, critics and admirers now, involving 1960 and 1990, most of the midcentury present day constructions in Sarasota fell into disrepair and were being demolished. In simple fact, the the vast majority of the Sarasota School of Architecture residences in Lido Shores are on the inside roadways many on the water have been torn down over the many years to make way for larger sized homes—especially given that most of the unique houses had been scarcely over 2,000 square feet.
Follow Architecture Sarasota for a lot more chances to get up, near and individual to these iconic structures with house tours and far more.