Before coming to Sarasota, Philip Hiss covered foreign assignments, including Bali, as a naturalist photographer. He later applied ideas from his travels to architecture in Sarasota. His sensitive site planning to take advantage of cooling winds for ventilation, deep roofs, and screens at his Lido Shores development reflected these ideas. He used fences not only for privacy, but also to create outdoor rooms.
Hiss served on the Sarasota County Board of Public Instruction from 1952 to 1960 and was given credit for the ambitious building program. In four years, the board built three new schools: Brookside Jr. High, Riverview High, and Venice Jr. High. The board also made additions to Booker, Englewood, Fruitville, and Alta Vista elementary schools, and added a new building at Sarasota High. This building program added 181 classrooms for the county and drew international attention for its innovative use of materials and modern designs. Hiss worked with other board members to direct contracts to "Sarasota School" architects. For example, Victor Lundy designed Alta Vista Elementary and Paul Rudolph designed Riverview High School and the Sarasota High addition.
Hiss promoted his vision of what education could be by founding New College, and appointing the initial Board of Trustees and committee chairmen. They commissioned I. M. Pei, the architect who later designed the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C., to create a campus master plan and design the east dormitories.
When Hiss died, the writer of his obituary noted that he is best remembered as the driving force behind what later became known as
"The Sarasota School of
Architecture". His vision of what Sarasota could be helped create an environment for progressive ideas and architecture.