On Thursday, June 10 at 7:00 AM, the editor of Miami Modern Metropolis will be giving a talk on “Miami Beach and the Resurgence of the Boutique Hotel.” That evening at the Wolfsonian Museum, he’ll be doing a book talk, along with fellow authors Randall Robinson and Jeff Donnelly. Their topic: “Miami Architecture: An AIA Guide Featuring Downtown, the Beaches, and Coconut Grove,” just published by University Press of Florida.

On Friday, June 11, he’s moderating a panel discussion for the Florida Humanities Council’s “Imagining a New Florida.” That evening he’s scheduled for a book talk at the 1963 Bacardi Building on “Miami Modern Metropolis,” an event sponsored by Architectural Record.

He’ll already have kicked off his day with a 7:00 AM session alongside architect Anthony Abbate and Jean Francois Lejeune, director of graduate studies in architecture at the University of Miami. Their topic: “Miami Modern Metropolis: A 21st Century Preservation Agenda—Understanding and Appreciating Greater Miami’s Architectural Heritage. “

For case studies in that event, the trio chose three classic Miami modern icons: the 1964 Miami Marine Stadium by Pancoast, Ferendino, Grafton, Skeels and Burnham, the 1963 Bacardi Building by Enrique Gutierrez of Sacmag International, and the homes of Colombian minimalist Jorge Arango.

“Arango designed a series of houses here that were very distinctive in adapting to the climate and landscape,” Allan said. “One of them has a garden by the Brazilian, Roberto Burle-Marx, who also did the sidewalk graphics on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami.” Arango’s homes have not yet been designated as historic structures, so the panel will discuss the challenges inherent in achieving that status.

The Miami Marine Stadium, only recently designated historic after much public debate concerning the structural soundness of the cantilevered canopy over its seating, had lain abandoned and unused since Hurricane Andrew roared through South Florida in 1982.

“It’s significant because it’s a landmark in concrete construction,” Andrew said. “It’s an enormous piece of civic architecture for the city. It commands views of an inlet, and also looks sideways at the city – it’s a viewing platform to the bay.”

The structure is an elaborate grandstand that adapts well to the surrounding mangroves and water course. “It’s a giant Circus Maximus,” Allen said. “It’s a lozenge-shaped race course for boats.”

The Bacardi Building, once Miami headquarters to the rum maker, is a modern tower of reinforced concrete, overlayed with two blue-and-white ceramic tile murals by Francisco Brennand of Recife, Brazil. It earned historic designation in 2009.

“It’s extraordinary because it’s an American headquarters, like the Seagrams Building in New York,” Allan said. “It’s a very Miesian building, but it mixes tropical decoration with very clean corporate modernism. Gutierrez was an associate of Mies, but this is very Miami. It’s what Miami would do with a corporate office building.”

Their discussion on Friday morning is co-sponsored by DOCOMOMO/US Florida.

For more on the AIA 2010 National Convention, go to http://www.aiaconvention.com/AIA2010/public/enter.aspx

For more on Allan Shulman, go to http://www.shulman-design.com/

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“It’s on less than an acre, and we placed it parallel to Peace Street,” Harmon said. “It’s a long, thin building with a porch on the south side. You’ll find that all over the South – at Mount Vernon, for example – so we knew that was a good pattern to follow.”

Harmon’s firm won the commission out of 60 entries in a 2008 competition. “We had a compelling site plan,” he said. “It was a design suited to the needs of the AIA.”

Parking has been placed at grade level, with the potential to share space with open-air exhibits, a farmers’ market, sculptures and film showings. “You could even build a Habitat for Humanity house there, and ship it off to Haiti,” he said.

The 12,000 square-foot building will serve as home to the NC AIA staff of five, with potential to grow over time. A coffee shop and architecture/art gallery will grace the Peace Street entrance, with the top floor’s 3,900 square feet reserved for tenants.

Harmon’s primary challenge – in a classic David vs. Goliath struggle – lay with a boisterous and clumsy quintet of neighbors sprawling southwest of the site, around the state’s legislative plaza. The Archdale building in particular swaggers monolithically above that section of the city. But in a deft, and inherently polite and gracious gesture, Harmon ignored them all.

“Ours is a horizontal statement,” he said quietly. “The real face of the building is to the south, looking toward the state capitol.” The new building will commence twelve feet above grade, assuring a clear view down Wilmington Street to the 1840 neoclassical dome of the Ithiel Town, Alexander Jackson Davis and David Paton building.

North Carolina fields one of the strongest AIA chapters in the nation, and enjoys a legacy of excellent design because of the influence of NC State’s College of Design, as well as the A-Schools at UNCC and North Carolina A & T. The AIA Center should be, the group’s web site notes, an architectural example for the entire state. Importantly, it’s only a stone’s throw away from those who make decisions about the state’s built environment.

“It’s a one-stop shop for legislators,” Harmon said. “The building itself is a role model for design that’s inspiring, and that belongs to the community.”

For more information on AIANC, visit www.aianc.org. For more on Frank Harmon, visit www.frankharmon.com. For more information on Bluelime Studio Architectural Renderings and Animation, go to www.bluelime.com. [[Show as slideshow]]