Paul Rudolph’s famed Riverview High School in Sarasota, Fla., is threatened with demolition to make room for a parking lot. Built in 1958, this steel and glass structure—Rudolph’s first public building—marks a transition in Rudolph’s career in that Riverview High School was his largest commission in Florida to date and allowed him the opportunity to explore compositional and technological ideas at an urban scale for the first time. The importance of Rudolph’s work here is the visual and spatial richness that he proved to be possible in American modern architecture.

The Sarasota Architectural Foundation (SAF) has won a reprieve until March 2008 from the school district to find a viable design and financial alternative that meets the school district’s objectives and preserves this significant work, which helped pioneer Modernism.

To this end, the SAF is sponsoring an international adaptive use design competition that will invite teams of architects and developers to make design and financial proposals to continue using the building. The competition jury will be composed of practitioners and academics in the design professions, members of the Sarasota School of Architects, real estate economists, an architectural historian, and local community representatives. To date, Toshiko Mori, Charles Gwathmey, and Alex Krieger have agreed to serve on the jury. Sir Richard Rogers has agreed to participate in the jury deliberations. The full list of jurors will be included in the Request for Qualifications posted at the SAF’s Web site.

The Request for Qualifications (RFQs) was posted at the SAF’s Web site in mid-July. The competition schedule calls for a briefing and site tour for interested teams in mid-August, screening of qualifications and selection of five teams (and start of the competition) in September, a midpoint review in October, and presentations to the jury and recommendation of a winner in November.

For additional information and to view the RFQs, visit the SAF or contact Bill Liskamm, FAIA, competition adviser.