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Sarasota News Leader September 27, 2013 Page 98 a group emerged that was willing to accept responsibility for the building. Spearheaded by the Ringling College of Art and Design, it wanted to create the Sarasota Museum of Art. With student growth continuing to press on the School Board, in the late 1950s it hired architect Paul Rudolph to sketch out preliminary designs for a Sarasota School of ArchiThe venture will be a $22 million project, with tecture addition to the SHS campus. about $17 million already raised. It will in- His design was — for its time — revolutionclude galleries for 20th century art on the sec- ary for a school. It incorporated shaded pasond floor, with the first floor used by Ringling sageways in the open air and natural ventiCollege's Continuing Studies and Special Pro- lation before the advent of air conditioning. grams. The building, finished in 1958, is considered a While the plan could still fall through if fund- significant link between Rudolph's "Sarasota raising stalls, backers believe they can be up School" homes and the much larger concrete and running long before the building cele- structures he would later design. Rudolph became the dean of architecture at Yale. brates its first century. This undated photo of Sarasota High does not show a single air conditioner, and the Tamiami Trail is very much a two-lane street without curbs or sidewalks. Photo courtesy of the Sarasota County School Board