“That thing is built like a battleship.”
Michael Walker should know, having built many challenging waterfront residential projects.
In downtown Sarasota, he was called upon to restore and adaptively reuse a 1960-vintage “battleship” known as the Scott Building.
The 1960 Scott Building has been renovated by the Center for Architecture Sarasota as the McCulloch Pavilion. At 265 S. Orange Ave. in Sarasota, the building will house CFAS, the University of Florida's CityLab master's degree program and an office for the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects. (Staff photo / Harold Bubil)
Owned by Sarasota County, the structure will be occupied by the Center for Architecture Sarasota, or CFAS, the American Institute of Architects’ local chapter office and the University of Florida’s CityLab.
In August, CityLab will offer master’s degrees in architecture to UF students in a real-world setting.
Renamed the “McCulloch Pavilion” for major benefactor Nathalie McCulloch, the building, 265 S. Orange Ave. in Sarasota, will be dedicated on March 26.
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A celebration gala is set for March 28, followed the next day by a lecture by the building’s original architect, Joe Farrell.
Proponents see the partnership as another example of how the Sarasota community appreciates art through the design and construction of modern buildings.
Surviving the times
Walker compares the building to a battleship because of its sturdy construction, which has enabled it to survive decades of use as a furniture store, and, later, the county’s print shop — and still have enough integrity to be renovated.
“It is a good thing we made it out of concrete, glass and aluminum,” said Farrell, who designed the building with the late Bill Rupp. “It doesn’t disintegrate to the point that you have to get rid of it.”
When Sarasota County leased the building to UF last year, the structure “had lost its honesty,” said Guy Peterson, the project’s architect.
From the metal spikes used to keep birds out of the building’s distinctive roofline, to the partitions and acoustic ceiling panels installed by the county, the original aesthetic intent had faded.
But after six months of construction costing more than $500,000, it appears as a new building now. The exterior has been restored and the interior has been reconfigured to meet the needs of the three tenants, while also taking on a minimally modern appearance.
“I have been fortunate to work with Joe Farrell, who was very active in that project,” Peterson said. “I was able to run a lot of ideas past him, and it has been a collaborative effort.
“This is bringing this building back to its original clear idea and simplicity.”
Every project has its challenges, and for this one, it was rewiring the building for a sophisticated lighting plan, and installing new air-conditioning, without a “sea of new conduits” everywhere, Walker said.
“We worked with a lighting consultant out of Mexico City (Thomas Paterson of Lux Populi), trying to be creative so we can have this big open, beautiful space and not see that equipment,” Peterson said. “There are a few ducts we had to expose, but for the most part, I feel it is successful. We tried to disguise it so when you walk in, you don’t notice the air-conditioning. It just happens.”
“I have to give credit to the electrical contractor, Beachem Brothers,” Walker said, “because they figured out how to chase just about all of that new wiring in the cavity of the precast, which eliminated miles of surface-mounted conduit.”
The “precast” refers to the building’s distinctive architectural feature — a roof system of precast concrete I-beams. The new wiring is hidden in the hollow spaces within the I-beams.
The building has distinctive, 9-foot overhangs that lend sculptural elements to the north and south facades.
In 1959, after the client rejected one of Bill Rupp’s plans for the building, the architect invited his friend Farrell to give it a try.
Farrell’s solution was to carve pieces out of the end of the beams at the precast factory, revealing a pattern of exposed flanges at the roof’s edge.
“We were able to create the sculptural look of the building,” Farrell said. “We didn’t add anything; we just placed these I-joists side by side and then sculpted out the bottom of them in the overhang. They made block-outs at the precast plant. We drew all of this very carefully, and it just worked out.”
With a restored and freshly painted exterior, and new, minimal interiors, “there has been an amazing transformation,” Peterson said.
“The fact that we are preserving this building is an important thing for the community.”
Strong support
Contractor Michael Walker, CFAS co-founder Cindy Peterson and architect Guy Peterson, from left, at the 1960 Scott Building, which has been renovated by the Center for Architecture Sarasota as the McCulloch Pavilion. At 265 S. Orange Ave. in Sarasota, the building will house CFAS, the University of Florida's CityLab master's degree program and an office for the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects. (Staff photo / Harold Bubil)
Cindy Peterson, co-founder of CFAS and also the architect’s wife, said the project benefited from “strong community support.”
CFAS, which was founded in 2013 and now has more than 300 members, was able to raise almost $600,000 in cash for the project to go with and about $300,000 in in-kind donated services.
“I am elated we have accomplished this,” Cindy Peterson said. “People kicked in for us and made this happen. We have amazing donors that provided funding and really believed in us.”
One of them was Nathalie McCulloch, for whom the renovated building is named.
“I lived in a contemporary house up north, and when I moved down here, I quite enjoyed seeing how much they had here,” McCulloch said, referring to vintage modernist architecture. “Guy and Cindy came to me — I think he is one of the outstanding architects in town right now. We talked, and I agreed, and I am very pleased to do it.
“The connection with the university is terrific. It is a feather in their cap that they have accomplished that.”
School days
CityLab, a two-year master’s program, will have six to 10 students in its initial class, said Martin Gold, former director of UF’s architecture school and now a faculty member.
The goal is an enrollment of 24 to 34 students at any one time, he said.
Students will work on actual architectural problems in Sarasota County. Gold has told the Herald-Tribune that CityLab will be “a competitive program. It’s going to be rigorous.”
Given its architectural culture, Sarasota will provide students the opportunity to work part-time while at CityLab, he said.
“I am really excited about this milestone, the partnership between UF and CFAS,” Gold said. “The building is looking fantastic.”
For Farrell, who has spent most of his career with a large architectural firm in Honolulu, the renewal of a building he helped design early in his career is a special moment.
Legacy
“I am really excited about it,” he said. “When I think back, I do something, and then I leave it for the next thing, and then the next thing comes along, and after awhile, 50 years have gone by.
“There is a lot of interest in Sarasota with the aesthetics of buildings. The fact that CFAS wants to restore it and extend it beyond to something as significant as the Center for Architecture Sarasota, is just terribly exciting to me.”
INTERESTED?
Building dedication and grand opening: 4 p.m. Thursday, March 26, 265 S. Orange Ave., Sarasota.
Grand opening gala: 5 p.m. Saturday, March 28, for VIP entry to the <NO><NO1>exhibit of work by architect Joe Farrell; 6:30 p.m., cocktails, dinner and music; tickets are $125 per person ($250 for VIP). Music by “In Crisis,” a band made up of University of Florida faculty.
Joe Farrell, FAIA, lecture, followed by Q&A with Harold Bubil: 5 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets and information: www.cfasrq.org
