In Wednesday’s (11/12) Florida Business Observer, Andrew Warfield writes, “Advancing the concept of blending the natural environment with performance, education and public open spaces, the Sarasota Orchestra has released the first schematic renderings of its planned Music Center, offering a preliminary glimpse of the 32-acre campus.… Led by the design architects at William Rawn Associates of Boston in collaboration with executive architects at HKS Architects of Orlando, release of the schematics marks a key milestone toward a 2027 groundbreaking…. Approximately 12 acres of the property will be for wetlands, water features, natural parks and walking trails intended to soften exterior sound and create shaded outdoor gathering space … The concert hall will be 1,800 seats, and a third structure is a planned 700-seat recital hall between the main hall and Education Center. Capping the seating at 1,800, Sarasota Orchestra President and CEO Joe McKenna told the Observer preserves the ‘sweet spot’ between design, audience experience and acoustics…. The Music Center [is] estimated to cost out between $375 million and $425 million.”
