The architects designing the new Sarasota Performing Arts Center have unveiled initial conceptual plans that would create four separate and distinct buildings along U.S. 41, the project straddling the 10th Street canal into Centennial Park.

At the first of two public town hall sessions Wednesday, architects from Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the Italian-based firm selected to design the building, and Sarasota’s Sweet Sparkman, the architects of record and designers of The Bay, shared initial designs.

The new facility will be built in collaboration with Bay Park Conservancy, which will eventually transform the Sarasota Bayfront by turning most of the area around the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall into a public park. While a panel appointed by the city is currently discussing alternative uses for the Van Wezel, the new performing arts hall is expected to become the main venue for touring Broadway shows, concerts, comedy and other acts.

For years, the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation and Bay Park Conservancy used an initial rendering that included a large performing arts building on the north end of the site. Renzo Piano architects have upended that concept.

Partner Mark Carroll said the firm’s architects played around with multiple options before considering a configuration with four separate buildings, raised off the ground by 20 or more feet for public access underneath and views of the water. Those buildings would be aligned north to south with the existing Sarasota Municipal Auditorium, Art Center Sarasota, the now-closed Chidsey Library, Sarasota Garden Club and the Blue Pagoda.

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“Sometimes you have to visit the site and walk around and look at it,” said Carroll. “What does the site tell you is the right thing to do?” The design plan was developed to allow more space for The Bay and to move the buildings further away from Sarasota Bay.

“It is important for us that this building speaks with the site,” said Renzo Piano associate Kerry Joyce. He said the arrangement of the four buildings “lets light permeate through the building. It creates a new pedestrian realm along Tamiami Trail, bringing an urbanity to the site that’s not there now. It leaves so much more park. Building in that (original location) fragments the park.”

By spacing the buildings apart with connective walkways, people driving west on 10th Street would still be able to see Sarasota Bay underneath and between the buildings. Joyce said it would distinguish the project from other performing arts centers in the country because of its connection with nature. The buildings are being positioned and designed to take advantage of the greenery that will be developed in the park.

Changing needs

Tania Castroverde Moskalenko, CEO of the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation, which is overseeing the project, said the project’s goals are to create a public square where everyone can gather whether or not they see performances. The project would be a home for arts and culture and a legacy building that will be environmentally sustainable and coastally resilient. It would contain three theaters, the largest seating between 2,500 and 2,700 people (the Van Wezel holds 1,741); a medium venue seating between 600 and 800 people; and a smaller flexible seating space that could be used for performances, educational programs and special events.

“We want to make sure if there’s a new Broadway show, it comes here first,” Moskalenko said. “There is a lot of competition for the shows. We had a big hit with ‘Hamilton’ this year, but it took nine years to get here. We want to make sure those shows get here sooner.”

In the current plan, the northernmost building would be the main theater building. Moving south along U.S. 41 would be a lobby building where most people would enter, followed by the medium theater and the flexible seating venue.

She said the facility would also be open to local arts organizations, with which the Foundation would collaborate.

Moskalenko, noting that Foundation surveys showed that 71 percent of respondents favored creating a newer and larger performing arts venue than the Van Wezel, said the facility would be accessible to the entire community whether or not they attend a show. There could be cafes underneath the buildings and seating for people to gather to work on laptops or watch sunsets. Inside, there would be multiple food and beverage options and numerous possibilities for rental spaces for meetings and events.

Raising the buildings allows for more public access, Joyce said. “People not going to a show can walk under them because the space is always open. For us, it’s important the building doesn’t just shut off after a show. Given its size, it’s not a space that can really shut down completely. You need people to activate it during the day.”

Parking cars and launching boats

Architect Jerry Sparkman said the new configuration for Centennial Park would allow for eight boat launches, two more than it currently has. And by rearranging parking and other amenities, the space would allow for a small bait shop, a space for a dock master to help coordinate boat parking and new restroom facilities.

Car parking would likely be in several different locations north, south and east of the building to avoid “the complications of everyone exiting at one time. Decentralizing, spreading them out, creates a better flow of cars entering and leaving,” said Renzo Piano architect Ronan Dunphy. He said they tested distances for the current Van Wezel lot, and the slowest walkers might take about five minutes to get from the farthest spaces to the front door. Parking in the new lots would be no farther.

Creating a pedestrian promenade

Dunphy said the plans would create a roughly 2,300-foot-long promenade along U.S. 41 from the northern end of the project to the southern end by the Blue Pagoda.

“With the new addition of the performing arts center, we have an opportunity to unite this entire length of the area, and to create shade for people,” Dunphy said. The plan is to create a canopy of panels that would provide shade, collect water and collect solar energy. The walkway would be lit to provide safety for those exiting the center. 

The displayed design maps show that the western edge of the recently completed traffic circle at U.S. 41 and 10th Street, would be closed off, meaning other entry points to the buildings would be created.

Energy efficiency and resiliency

Carroll said that the building would be designed to LEED standards (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) to make it as resilient, sustainable and energy efficient as possible. 

Joyce said there would be solar panels on top of the buildings “to capture the sun’s energy. Performing arts centers use an incredible amount of energy, but with this scheme, we could create about 90 percent of the energy they need and in the off season, we could create energy that goes into The Bay park.”

The Foundation and the city of Sarasota have agreed to split the costs of the project, which has been estimated to be between $250 million and $300 million. Carroll said it’s far too early to discuss costs or the actual building designs or materials that will be used. But he said the firm looks “forward to building a project that will stand for 300 to 500 years.”

Dunphy said it also is too early to discuss what the theater spaces would look like. “We are working with various consultants, acoustics, theater designers and lighting.” He said the initial conceptual renderings displayed at the meetings “are just a suggestion of what it might look like.”

The reveal got some favorable reactions from city officials.

“I think it’s genius,” said Mayor Liz Albert about the idea of splitting up the building “and giving more space to the park.”

Vice Mayor Jennifer Ahearn-Koch, who has raised issues about the potential cost of the project – concerns she still has until the city knows exactly what it will cost – said she appreciated how “sensitive they are to the surrounding area, the people and boats.”

Ahearn-Koch said there can be some worry that an outside design firm might “impose their style” on a local community. “They did the opposite. I appreciate the thought that went into this, even though we don’t have a lot of details yet. I love the idea of the walkway. They’re sensitive to the idea of climate change and how they’re creating shade to mimic what you get from trees.”

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