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Spring 2021
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ARCHITECT Q&A WITH CLIFFORD SCHOLZ OF CLIFFORD M. SCHOLZ ARCHITECTS With more than four decades of experience honing both his inventive and construction management sides, Clifford M. Scholz, president of CMSA Architects, has built this well-known, highly-skilled, and reputable architecture firm. We sat down with Mr. Scholz to learn about the chance meeting that developed into this magnificent Modern Bay View property. While at an open-seating networking event, Scholz found a random seat. Within five minutes of speaking to the gentleman beside him, Scholz had learned that he and his wife were on the hunt for an architect to modernize their beloved property. Home & Design: What was the vision and inspiration for the Modern Bay View project? Clifford Scholz: The clients wanted a very modern home, yet it was extremely important to them to keep much of the existing furniture. We also needed to bring it up to current FEMA requirements, make it feel energetic, and disguise the garage doors. I don’t have a list of questions for my clients — I like to keep it somewhat informal because I find my creativity and my clients’ willingness to share ideas flow better during these informal sessions. It was evident to me that they wanted modern with an eclectic twist. u
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Home & Design: How do you help clients fully understand the scope of a project? Clifford Scholz: I do all of my drawings by hand, using a straight-edge and a Flair. Whereas my senior vice president Richard D. Oswald, who is computer-savvy, creates 3D computer models and renderings. We’ve got a mix of methods that we like, and the clients do too. Rick and I are both licensed general contractors; we just don’t practice on a daily basis. But we’re well-tuned-in on what money can and can’t do regarding a build. Also, we look at the project from our clients’ perspective — we do that a lot at our firm — and ask ourselves how we would feel about this process. It is a big deal, and we use that insight to help the clients understand and feel comfortable about the scope of their project. Home & Design: How do the stairs make an architectural statement in this home? Clifford Scholz: The house was meant to be a strong house, but also warm and full of light. We developed a transom system throughout the whole house so that even if all the doors were closed, natural light still
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flows from room to room. The stairs and the elevator presented us with a challenge and an opportunity to create something that had mass but also design something that light could pass through. The stairs wrap around the elevator, and we used a steel beam and pre-cast concrete treads. The beam goes down the middle, and these concrete treads are secured to it. Now, instead of this element being a 15-foot-long obstruction in the middle of the house, you only contend with about 5 feet of elevator width. The rest lets light pass through as this house was designed to allow light to stretch from the east to the west. Home & Design: What is your favorite aspect? Clifford Scholz: The rooftop terrace. The clients asked us what the views were when you kept going up. As we normally do, we brought our drone and took an aerial assessment of the site. When we saw the view from the rooftop level, we just went, Whoa! From up there, you’re looking all the way down the Sarasota Bay, and you get views of the mangroves, boaters, and far off houses. It’s like kinetic art — you couldn’t ask for a better view. u
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Home & Design: Tell me about the unique materials incorporated for the garage doors? Clifford Scholz: Garage doors aren’t something we want to showcase. It’s a functional aspect, and the client simply said that he didn’t want to see it. There is one garage on the front of the house and three garages on the south side of the house. I knew I needed to come up with a texture or a material to clad the base of the house that would look like an architectural material and not a garage door. We decided on this composite exterior cladding product called Parklex that we had used on another project and knew it could stand the test of time. We sheathed a good percentage of the ground level with this material, and where the garage doors were, we were able to clad the actual garage door in the same material — essentially masking it. We engineered the garage doors to be flush with the outside face of the house, making this a very successful detail Home & Design: Are there any trends you hope are here to stay in the Suncoast design community? Clifford Scholz: One trend that developed out of our universal experience surrounding the pandemic was that people were forced to spend more time at home as a family, which helped them see what worked in their homes and what didn’t. This gave people an appreciation for what we as architects do and helped families narrow down the changes they’d like to make in their homes. When we do residential work, we need to know a lot about our clients to be effective. Being together as a family at home has made it easier for our clients to communicate that to us. That trend of coming together — that we didn’t have a choice in due to the pandemic — brought us as architects even closer into that relationship with our clients. I truly hope that trend is here to stay. n
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Written by Rachel Seekamp Photography by Ryan Gamma Courtesy of Clifford M. Scholz Architects
Resources: Carefree Design Center 1091 Central Avenue Sarasota, FL 34236 941.921.4000 carefreedesign.com
Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting Gallery 5521 Fruitville Road Sarasota, FL 34232 941.951.0110 fergusonshowrooms.com
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