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Projects   Project Portfolio – October 2006
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The Jorge M. Perez Architecture Center
School of Architecture

University of Miami
Leon Krier

Leon Krier applies his own form of primitive Classicism to the Jorge M. Perez Architecture center at the University of Miami     

 


Photo © Steven Brooke Studios
   

By Alexander Gorlin, FAIA

It seemed like a match made in Classical heaven: Leon Krier, the patron saint of New Urbanism, apostate of Modernism, and former protégé of James Stirling, is brought to the University of Miami in 2000 by the dean of the School of Architecture, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. Here he was to continue an earlier mission of Aldo Rossi, now deceased, to design a lecture hall and gallery as the focal point of the school, established in 1983, in Coral Gables.

When Krier was chosen as the design architect, he brought in Merrill & Pastor (now Merrill, Pastor & Colgan) of Vero Beach, with whom he had previously worked on other Florida projects. While the firm translated Krier’s hand sketches into design development drawings, all three firms stayed involved in every phase of the project—which may have meant too many cooks stirring up a not quite perfect bouillabaisse.

Urbanistically, the Jorge M. Perez Architecture Center is a powerful and mysterious work of architecture that gives coherence to a number of formerly gelatinously undifferentiated spaces and streets on campus. A four-sided arched entry connects to a massive octagonal lecture hall, linked by an open breezeway to a basilicalike gallery with a freestanding loggia. Alone among architects working in a traditional syntax, Krier has extended the vocabulary of Classicism through a bold use of proportion, and a free interpretation of its tropes and motifs.

Two towers marking the building do not recall any specific precedents, although the lecture hall’s cupola resembles a vernacular dovecote or a Roman columbarium, and the other recalls a bell tower in a white-washed Greek village. Together, as the towers shift and align as one walks toward them, they bring to mind the twin steeples of St. Martinville in Proust’s Swann’s Way.

The interior of the lecture hall features an industrially detailed dome of exposed steel beams and decking that surmounts a steeply raked series of seats and desks for 145 students. The design elicits multiple readings, from Scamozzi’s Teatro Ducale in Sabbioneta, Italy (1598), to a 19th-century dissection theater, and fosters the idea that education is a shared experience. Attached to the hall is the gallery, a long, open structure that functions as a multipurpose room, with half-round openings in the clerestory. Surprisingly, you find the interior spaces are much simpler than you would expect from the complex village of parts outside.

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the People

Owner
The University of Miami School of Architecture

Architect's firm name:
Architect of Record:
Ferguson Glasgow Schuster Soto, Inc.
Architecture – Planning – Interior Design
Natividad Soto, AIA, Principal in Charge
2801 Ponce De Leon Blvd. #390
Coral Gables ,  FL  33134
Phone:  305-443-7758, Fax:  305-445-9957

Architectural Designer:
Leon Krier
8 Rue des Chapeliers
83830 Claviers, France
Phone:  011-33-494-47-8595

Design Development:
Merrill, Pastor and Colgan Architects
Scott Merrill, AIA, Principal in Charge
927 Azalea Lane, Suite B
Vero Beach, Florida 32963
Phone:  772-492-1983, Fax:  772-492-1986
www.merrillpastor.com/

Designer: Leon Krier

For Ferguson Glasgow Schuster Soto, Inc.: 
Principal in Charge: Natividad Soto, AIA

Project Manager: Andres Prieto

Assistant Project Manager: Edgardo Moreno, AIA

For Merrill, Pastor and Colgan Architects:
Principal in Charge:
Scott Merrill, AIA
Chris Janson, Cory Padesky

Architect of record, if applicable:
Natividad Soto, AIA, Ferguson Glasgow Schuster Soto, Inc.

Associate architect(s), if applicable:
Leon Krier, Designer
8 Rue des Chapeliers
83830 Claviers, France
Voice:  011-33-494-47-8595

Merrill, Pastor and Colgan Architects
927 Azalea Lane, Suite B
Vero Beach, Florida 32963
Voice:  772-492-1983, Fax:  772-492-1986

Interior designer
Leon Krier, Designer
8 Rue des Chapeliers
83830 Claviers, France
Voice:  011-33-494-47-8595

Engineer(s)
Structural: 
Brill Rodriguez Salas & Assoc., Inc.
9360 S.W. 72nd Street, Suite #216
Miami, Florida 33073
Contact:  Armando Salas, PE
Luis Rodriguez, PE
Lawrence F. Brill, PE

Civil: 
Post, Buckley Schuh & Jernigan, Inc.
2001 NW 107 Ave.
Miami, FL  33172
Contact:  Michael Lee, PE
http://www.pbsj.com

Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing & Fire Protection: 
Gartek Engineering Corporation
7210 SW 39 Terrace
Miami, Fla. 33155
www.gartek-engineering.com

Contacts: Mel Garcia, PE, Robert Betancourt, PE,  Juan Carlos Pereyra, Rodolfo Area, Julian Puerta

Consultant(s)
Landscape:
Geomantic Designs, Inc.
6800 SW 81st Street
Miami, FL  33143
Contact:  M. Robert Parsley
www.geomanticdesigns.com/

Lighting:
ISP Design, Inc.
9245 SW 158 Lane
Miami, FL  33157
Contacts:  Sylvia Bistrong and Janis Taylor

Acoustical:
TSG Design Solutions
1850 Forest Hill Blvd., Suite 203
West Palm Beach, FL  33406
www.tsgds.com/

Other:
Audio-Visual: 
International Cinema Equipment
5600 NW 32 Ave.
Miami, Florida  33142
Contacts:  Arturo Quintero and Larry Pola
www.iceco.com/

General contractor
Arellano Construction Co.
7051 SW 12th Street
Miami, Florida  33144
Contacts:  Agustin Arellano and Frank Villar
(305) 994-9901

Renderer
Merrill, Pastor and Colgan Architects
927 Azalea Lane, Suite B
Vero Beach, Florida  32963
Contact:  Scott Merrill, AIA
Chris Janson and Cory Padesky
http://www.merrillpastor.com/

CAD system, project management, or other software used
Autodesk Architectural Desktop
www.autodesk.com

Vectorworks
http://www.nemetschek.net

the Products

Structural system
Structural Steel:  Suncor, Inc.
www.suncor.com

Exterior cladding
Masonry Supplier:  Rinker Materials Corporation
www.rinker.com

Concrete & Masonry Shell Sub-contractor:
  C2 Construction, Inc.

Concrete:
Rinker Materials Corporation
www.rinker.com

Roofing
Built-up roofing:  Siplast, Inc.
http://www.siplast.com

Metal: 
Englert, Inc.
http://www.englertinc.com/

Roofing Sub-contractor:
RSI of Florida, Inc.
1750 NW 19TH Ave. Pompano Beach, FL 33069

Windows
Aluminum:
CGI – Fixed and Casement Hurricane Impact Resistant Windows
http://www.cgiglass.com/

Doors
Entrances:  YKK AP America, Inc. Hurricane Impact Resistant Glass and Aluminum Doors
http://www.ykkap.com/

Hardware
Locksets:
Schlage
http://www.schlage.com

Hinges:
Hager
http://www.hagerco.com

Closers: 
LCN Closers
http://www.lcnclosers.com

Exit devices: 
Dor-O-Matic
http://www.doromatic.com

Pulls:
Rockwood
http://www.rockwoodmfg.com

Interior finishes
Cabinetwork and custom woodwork: Office Furniture by TEMPO, Inc.

Paints and stains:
Concrete Floor Stain:  Mineral Life International Inc.
Paints:  The Sherwin-Williams Company
http://www.sherwin-williams.com

Paneling
Acoustical Panels:
Kinetics Noise Control
www.kineticsnoise.com

with Guilford of Maine fabric
http://www.guilfordfabrics.com/

Floor and wall tile (cite where used):  Dal Tile (restrooms)
http://www.daltile.com

Furnishings
Tables:
For Stanley and Jewell Glasgow Lecture

Hall: 
KI
http://www.kihealthcare.com

Lectern for Stanley and Jewell Glasgow Lecture Hall:
Designed by Leon Krier and built by University of Miami School of Architecture students.

Lighting
Interior ambient lighting:
ERCO
www.erco.com

Louis Poulsen
www.louispoulsen.com

Neri
http://www.neri.biz/

Cooper
www.cooperlighting.com

Lucifer
www.luciferlighting.com

Light Project
Rambusch
www.rambusch.com

Concealite
http://www.concealite.com/

Exterior: 
ERCO
http://www.erco.com

Controls:
Lutron
http://www.lutron.com

 
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