2016

John Maurer received the $3,631 award in 2016

John Maurer

John attends the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, Florida and will graduate in July 2017. Mr. Maurer is a graduate of Booker High School in Sarasota, FL.

Printmaking, sculpture; concept, fine details. Starting college, these were areas of delight. An architectural drafting class taken in the last semester of an AA degree would bond the previously listed interests within a singular focus. With the new architectural classes came new processes. No longer was the goal to simply sculpt form, but to also sculpt space. How to sculpt spaces that captures interest in plan, elevation, and section. Through the process of space sculpting came the importance of designing in section and in plan simultaneously. Dynamic sections, multiple floor height space was something Rudolph could display in dynamic sectional renderings. 

Photo below, John's 2017 Orlando, FL Community Center project. Six buildings include a library, art gallery and restaurant.

2017 Orlando, FL Community Center

Rudolph's subtle change in floor/ceiling heights can be seen in "Penthouse apartment, 23 Beekman Place, New York City. Perspective section." Dynamic spaces created by changing ceiling heights & floor heights helps me to understand what sculpting space meant, learning to design in section important to the interests of spaces. All the different heights of floors and ceiling could often leave expressive structure. Expressing structure and expressing structural moments is another influential trait Rudolph exhibits. When Rudolph is using grids or overlapping geometry, he often express a firmness to the structure that could make Vitruvius envious. Rudolph has also been known to celebrate structural moments as such works as Burroughs-Wellcome headquarters in Research Triangle Park, NC. Instead of stacking floors on vertical columns Rudolph would express the shear and moments with honest slanted columns. The slanted columns would often create a reduction/ stack affect in section and elevation that would present unique opportunities for lighting. The dynamic spaces and expressive structure are the components I wish to use in my own exploration of architecture.

While living in Sarasota managing at Big Cat Habitat & Gulf Coast Sanctuary I also learned high wire under the Wallenda's. Big Cat is always experiencing rapid growth, looking forward to returning to Sarasota and designing with Big Cat so it may continue to grow with sustainability. I've been in talks with Nik Wallenda to design a new training facility in Sarasota. The facility will enrich Sarasota's vast cultural attractions after I obtain my professional architectural degree, as I am already working on NCARB hours. I plan to make a trip home to work with the Rosaire's and Nik, as a way to give back to my community that helped raise and shape me. 

Maxwell Strauss received the $3,631 award in 2016

Maxwell Strauss

Maxwell Strauss graduated from Sarasota Christian High School in Sarasota, FL and graduated from the Savannah School of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia in May 2017.

Paul Rudolph's knowledge of the space efficiency from World War II naval ships helped create today's Sarasota Modern style and eventually inspired me to become an architect focused on human movement. After moving to Sarasota fourteen years ago, even as a young aspiring architect that I was at the time, Paul Rudolph did not make an immediate impact on me; however, after eventually learning about his impact on the architectural landscape around me ten years later, I have strived even more to become a licensed architect. With the help of my family and many mentors over the years, I was raised to eventually meet that goal; whether it included building structures with Lego blocks or sketching out conceptual space-efficient floor plans during my free time. Diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in 2006, a high functioning form of Autism, I have never let it get in the way from pursuing my goals in life. After years of bullying at multiple schools, I made the best decision of my life and transferred to Sarasota Christian School for my junior and senior years. While attending Sarasota Christian, I thrived socially and academically, earning acting and art awards, being elected Chief-of-Staff in my senior year, assisting with our varsity basketball team, and eventually graduating Summa Cum Laude. Currently in my junior year of the architecture program at Savannah College of Art and Design with a 3.81 GPA, I regularly volunteer at Habit for Humanity and belong to several other organizations, including AIAS, SCAD Hillel, and the Tau Sigma Delta Honor Society. I intend to continue through this program at SCAD and either obtain my master's degree here or open my horizons and look at different schools to study at. After achieving my license to practice architecture, I hope eventually to design commercial retail spaces and stadiums around the world. During my architectural internship last summer, I participated in all aspects of the design process, eventually reaching one common goal that united many disciplines. While working in an integrated environment, a team can learn more, aspire to innovate the impossible, encourage lasting client relationships and, in turn, make the future a better place for everyone. I truly do appreciate the opportunity that an extremely generous Paul Rudolph Scholarship donor has presented to me in form of this scholarship. Winning this scholarship would be a huge part in allowing me to pursue my dreams. I look forward to hopefully having an opportunity in the future where I would be in the position to help others that are in the same financial situation that I currently find myself in.