New College picks athletic-centered concept in competition to redesign moldy Pei dorms

In an architecture competition to redesign and repurpose the campus' iconic Pei dorms, New College of Florida has selected an athletics-centered plan by Sweet Sparkman Architecture & Interiors, a Sarasota-based firm, according to a release.

The firm was one of three finalists in the competition, with the others from Los Angeles and France, each receiving $10,000 honoraria to develop their designs. New College, in collaboration with Architecture Sarasota, held the competition to seek ideas for how the college could redevelop the unused dorms, now plagued by mold, that were designed by legendary Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei.

A committee of local and national members of the architecture community selected the winner following a presentation each finalist gave at the college's campus on Nov. 15, according to a New College statement. The college's announcement also clarified that winning the competition did not guarantee additional contracts or work, adding that "any subsequent project will be subject to a separate public procurement process."

"We were thrilled," Todd Sweet, the founder of the Sweet Sparkman Architecture & Interiors, said about winning. "Huge win for our firm with competition and with the other competing firms that we hold in high regard."

"New College appreciates the incredible efforts of all three finalists, the interest shown by the many firms that submitted initial responses to the request for qualifications, and the hundreds of members of our college community and local community that took time to give feedback in person and online," college president Richard Corcoran said in a statement.

The Pei dorm buildings have been closed for the fall semester because of a systemic mold issue in their HVAC system. Because of the issue and the continued shortage of beds on campus, the college shut down the buildings and sent students off-campus to hotels.

An athletic redesign

The design from Sweet Sparkman Architecture & Interiors included a baseball stadium where the current Sarasota Classic Car Museum sits, elevated walkways throughout the campus, a second pedestrian bridge in addition to the current one across Tamiami Trail, and a multi-story parking garage.

With a baseball field, softball field, soccer/lacrosse field with a 400-meter track, swimming pool, six tennis courts, six beach volleyball courts, six pickleball courts, a basketball court and a fieldhouse the design centers largely on turning New College's east campus into an athletics complex.

Sweet said his understanding of the prompt from New College was that the east campus by the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport was to be focused on athletics, while the west bayfront campus would be more residential.

"They wanted to repurpose those buildings as something other than residential," he said.

The design changes the Pei dorm buildings into multi-purpose spaces for offices, retail, athletic and e-sports uses, according to the firm's presentation.

Corcoran has made the implementation of a broad athletics program a focal point of his plan for transforming the state's historically academics-oriented honors liberal arts college. Prior to March 2023, the school had no intercollegiate athletics beyond intramural club teams.

In October, New College was accepted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

The cost and timeframe remain unclear for such a widescale potential remodeling of the college's east campus, Sweet said, calling it the "million dollar question" citing construction costs and inflation. Because of the unclear nature of what financial investment the college's leadership may be willing to put forward, Sweet Sparkman implemented three financial levels to its design, ranging from only repurposing the buildings to completely reimagining the east side of campus.

One of the hallmark design choices in the proposal, under the highest financial investment level, is a white-wire canopy shade where the palm court currently sits on campus. The design was intended as a biomimicry of palm trees.

Karl Bernhard, an architect with Sweet Sparkman, said the overarching goal of the design was to save the Pei buildings in a simple way.

"I think through our exploration, we have figured out how to do that," Bernhard said. "I think hopefully, we've made believers of the powers that be so that we can sort of pursue that as opposed to the opposite, which would be the tragic tragedy of the demolition of the dorms."

See the firm's full design presentation below.

Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: New College of Florida names Sweet Sparkman 'Reimagining Pei' winner