1. Exuberant Shapes: Buildings took on flexible profiles using swooping roofs, extended cantilevers and curved walls while residential buildings were often characterized by rambling horizontal forms with flat or low sloping roofs.
2. Abandoned Symmetry: Most often asymmetrical, these progressive buildings are in complete contrast to the designs of the past. Instead they relied on balance, proportion and scale to outwardly communicate the function of space within. The slope of the roof is expressed both inside and out creating novel interior spaces and allowing buildings to be read from the outside — higher roofs and therefore higher ceilings imply public space while lower roofs identify more private spaces like bedrooms or bathrooms.
3. Innovative Construction: Traditional load-bearing walls of the past were abandoned. Post and beam construction, which supports horizontal beams by means of vertical posts of thin steel or wood columns, replaced traditional construction thanks to longer beams and stronger columns. Thus, external walls could be made of glass.
4. Lightness of Being: Extensive expanses of glass, louvers and/or screens were used in these sizeable openings, giving the mid-century structures a remarkable lightness. Doors were often sliding and windows often jalousie, permitting natural breezes to ventilate the interiors. These openings could be located in a building according to the interior function and the requirements of the occupant — as opposed to the rigid rules of traditional styles.
5. Climate Survival by Passive Design: The orientation on the site avoided direct sunlight and made use of shade to reduced heat gain, and ventilation was encouraged to keep air cool. The shape of the building was critical in controlling airflow, and deep overhangs in a variety of shapes provided shade to large glass openings below and protection from tropical downpours. By incorporating these simple rules of passive design it was possible to live and work in south Florida without air conditioning.
6. Flowing Floor Plans: Open spaces were the norm — low walls or screens that never touch the ceiling, made of a variety of materials, defined space without enclosing rooms. That contributed to air movement and increased the space perception.
7. Privacy Principles: Privacy from the street side was common. Small windows faced the road and buildings often featured a private entry hall or courtyard. But once inside buildings became more transparent, often with considerable openings at the back, framing views overlooking the water, an outdoor patio for entertaining or simply, a well-manicured backyard.
8. Exterior Motives: The relationship with the outdoors was paramount. Not only did large openings blur the relationship between the inside and out, but this seamless transition reinforced the relationship with the landscape as well. Houses, in particular, were small but by opening out to paved patios, screened porches and courtyards, essential well-loved living space was created.
9. Material Integrity: Buildings were fresh and original, taking advantage of new materials and new technology, as well as new construction methods. Materials were honest: terrazzo floors, decorative brick or stacked concrete block, exposed timber structure or wood paneling – not painted or covered but left bare. And for the first time materials passed from inside to out – further emphasizing the ambiguity between the interior and exterior.
10. Great light, Cool spaces: Natural light was indirect — a result of carefully planning the orientation of the building combined with deep overhangs. Loads of daylight came in but never direct sunlight. The light source of artificial lights was indirect as well, often hidden in coves or above cabinets bouncing light up to the ceilings and subtly washing walls.

Ft Myers News- Press article by Joyce Owens, AIA, RIBA link
Mid-Century Modern in Southwest Florida (MCMO) website

Most architects – no matter how skilled on the drawing board – have never picked up a hammer. Their model might well have been Frank Lloyd Wright, whose work-famous residential designs were notorious for their practical defects, like flat roofs that constantly leaked.

I enjoy both the design and construction aspects, because that gives me a hands-on perspective on building residential and commercial projects. I know what materials cost, how change orders can delay the work, and how to finish a well- designed project, on time and on budget.

Right now, I’m building my fourth house, and looking forward to its completion in November. Located in the City of Sarasota, our family-oriented 2,200 square-foot modern custom home incorporates numerous “smart design” features. For example, we’re using attractive but inexpensive finishes, and high-quality cabinetry and appliances that cost less than the European imported brands. It also has hurricane-resistant impact glass, spray foam insulation and other energy-saving and “green” features. I expect the final cost to be less than $100 a square foot, giving us the best of both worlds: a beautiful modern home at a very affordable price.

That approach resonates with many of today’s residential clients who want a one-of-a-kind home or condominium for approximately the same price as a “me-too” production home. From sleek modern to comfortable traditional to elegant Mediterranean, every home I design is meticulously detailed to stand out from the rest, at the right price for today’s market.

Mark Sultana, AIA, NCARB, is an award-winning architect and partner at DSDG, Inc. Architects, Sarasota. The firm’s services include architecture, planning, interior design and construction management. For more information: www.dsdginc.com

Scott Sayare   New York Times Sep 7, 2011

It is hardly the first time such efforts have come to this neighborhood.  Governments have been razing and rebuilding in this neighborhood for 25 years, hopeful that new architecture and new theories about how best to house  the poor will solve the problems.  Residents and local officials, though, have few expectations that new walls and fresh pavement, whatever their configuration, can drive a deeper renewal.

Erected in the 1960s, the 4000 complex was meant as a utopia, an experiment in social engineering that would rationalize the lives of the immigrant workers it would house.

The theory of the day, drawing on the architectural philosophy of Le Corbusier, held that residential areas ought to remain separate from roads and the work place, and so the cluster was built as a sort of island; residents trudged across a muddy field to reach an adjacent train station.

Each airy apartment was equipped with a bathroom, a relative rarity in Paris at the time.  The complex was deemed revolutionary.  But it fell into disrepair within a decade.  Built cheaply, the units leaked and crumbled.  More recently, the elevators seldom ran.  The rats moved in.  The drug trade arrived in the 1980s.

Government after government has since pledged to undo the damage they say these structures have done, deploring the homogeneity, monotony, and social segregation they imposed.

And yet, while the particular philosophy underlying the 4000 has been disavowed, few French officials have jettisoned a belief in the primacy of architecture in shaping social outcomes, said Marie-Christine Vatov, the editor-in-chief at Innovapresse, a media group specializing in architecture and urban planning.  “It’s not enough to build in a certain way,” she said, especially without more pointed efforts to improve education and employment.  There are political considerations, too. Buildings thrown up or torn down, are visible markers of action, Ms. Vatov noted.

A glass box raised on fourteen slender steel columns, this design is an elegant example of the International Contemporary style. The studio was one of the first air-conditioned space in Sarasota, a necessity to protect the drawings and books there. The addition is at ground level, surrounded by walled gardens and invisible from the street. It exemplifies the Sarasota School of Architecture’s emphasis on flow of outside air through the house, use of simple materials glass and concrete block.

Sarasota Modern Home. Designed in 1960 by William Rupp and renovated in 2006 by Seibert Architects PA. The house plan forms multiple exterior courtyards for gracious outdoor tropical living. The home features a unique sleeping loft.

Rebirth of the Cool.

2011 July/August Dwell Magazine. ”Florida Modern, A breezy seaside take on (largely postwar) architecture, borrowing elements from the International Style – linear and light filled-in a distinctly Floridian setting”. This is a quote from Dwell on a Sarasota home renovation. Page 46 Dwell, July/August 2011. House No. 61 in Tour Sarasota Architecture.

You can be a part of expanding the community of modern architecture advocates by providing a gift membership to a family member, friend, company, or school. Gift memberships include a DVD of the documentary An American Legacy: The Sarasota School of Architecture, regular event announcements, and special alerts about tours. In addition SAF will send a special note card to each of your recipients to let them know of your generosity. SAF will also send you a letter acknowledging your donation to SAF in 2011.