University of Miami

George Merrick, the visionary founder of Coral Gables, one of America's most notable garden cities, inspired the founding of the School in Architecture in the mid-1920s when he assembled the first planners and designers of Coral Gables and encouraged their association with the newly-formed University of Miami, a private, independent, non-sectarian institution. That initial and close association of architects, planners, landscape architects and artists, working within the context of experimental towns and cities, remains a hallmark of the school today. The School of Architecture's location within the metropolitan Miami area provides an outstanding laboratory for research and advanced study of architecture and urban design. Its main campus, at the heart of the Garden City of Coral Gables, was designed in 1944-45 by Robert Law Weed and Marion Manley, the first licensed female architect in the State of Florida, and continues to grow with new buildings by Michael Dennis, Robert Stern, Leon Krier, Arquitectonica International, and others. The challenges of conservation and development are intense in one of the nation's fastest growing urban areas. These challenges result in an increasing demand for skilled professionals. In Downtown Miami and Brickell many high-rise apartment buildings have surged in the last ten years, more than quintupling the resident population; two new museums are in construction along the Bay by Swiss architects Herzog & De Meuron (Miami Art Museum) and the British firm of Nicolas Grimshaw (Miami Science Museum). Further to the north are Wynwood and the Design District, two rapidly developing areas for the arts, education and quality retail for construction and interior design (Art Basel); on the other side of Biscayne, Miami Beach Bay is the epicenter of public life anchored by a strong preservation movement which has generated the establishment of ten historic districts with buildings ranging from the early 1920s to the late 1960s. With the opening of the New World Symphony campus designed by Frank Gehry and its adjacent park by Dutch landscape urbanists West 8 (Adriaan Geuze), the award-winning mixed-use parking garage by Herzog & De Meuron, and other projects by Enrique Norten and Hargreaves, the city has become a point of attraction for contemporary architecture as well. The cosmopolitan nature of Miami provides a unique resource for the school in both the study and application of contemporary design issues. As the emerging continental capital of the Caribbean and Latin America, Miami offers international opportunities unique in the United States. The resources of a large research university also provide a broad range of cross-disciplinary opportunities. Selected study programs, honors programs, and the Residential College system, in which undergraduate students live in a college with faculty masters and associates, reinforce the school's effort to build a personal, attentive and responsive environment which nurtures and develops each student's unique abilities and contributions. Beyond the academic forum, the School of Architecture, uses its extensive professional contacts and alumni network, in a career placement to assist students with summer and post-graduate internships and employment.

School Philosophy

School of Architecture programs are based upon the belief that architecture is a civic art, placing the architect squarely at the vital core of society, central to an active citizenry. This view of architectural education encourages each student to develop the capacity to participate in the public role of architecture and to respond creatively to the inevitable changes that characterize modern life. Themes of urbanism, tradition and innovation in architecture intertwined with the knowledge of related disciplines establish a context for analysis and synthesis in the seeking of solutions for the enhancement of the physical environment. Small classes, individual mentorship, and internationally recognized faculty, dedicated to both teaching and advancing the profession, characterize the School of Architecture. Numerous opportunities for research, particularly in the relationship of architecture to the environment and urban context, promote collegial associations among faculty and students and attract numerous visiting architects and scholars from around the world. Given Miami's position in the southeastern United States and its proximity to the Caribbean and Latin America, the Master of Science intends to pursue an intense international North-South agenda that will allow students and faculty to develop a deeper understanding of architecture, urbanism and cultures in an increasingly globalized world. The program will be building on many years of experience and relationships with architects and communities within the Americas, including Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Brazil. The program offers a critical and professional environment to investigate design strategies and challenges in relation to the tropical and subtropical conditions within which more than half of the population of the globe lives: sustainable architecture and urbanism; climate change; identity in a globalized world; infrastructure and informal settlements, etc. School's historians and architects are developing research on Mediterranean Modernism, Tropical and Colonial Modernism, and in general the way pre-WWII and post-WWII architects adapted the concepts of the modern movement to the climatic and energetic conditions of Central and South America, India, etc. The School is a member and has a representative on the Board of the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) at the University of Miami. The Center's distinguished faculty Š—– and their students Š—– are exploring some of the most pressing issues facing the region, issues such as climate change, urban development, and public health. By hosting lectures, workshops, and conferences, as well as supporting cutting-edge research, the Center provides a hub for these people to share their knowledge with each other and to brainstorm new ideas and activities. This knowledge exchange positions the University of Miami and its School of Architecture at the center of a broader global dialogue that connects the rest of the world to Latin America and the Caribbean. The School of Architecture is co-organizing a multidisciplinary international symposium on Informal Cities in the Americas which will take place in the Fall of 2012. Beyond Latin America, the School of Architecture has established a collaborative network with selected European schools and faculty. A program is already active with the Ecole d'architecture de Nantes in France, Universit’¾ della Sapienza in Rome, and other initiatives are in development with Barcelona, Brazil and Argentina. Students in the Master of Science have the opportunity to study one semester at the University of Miami Rome Center (Spring). In order to develop this agenda, the School of Architecture's distinguished faculty will be joined each year by nationally and internationally renown visiting scholars and architects who lecture and teach at the school. In recent years this group has included Alex Wall (TU Karlsruhe), Stanislaus von Moos (University of Z’_rich), Adriaan Geuze (West 8, Rotterdam/New York), Terry Riley (Miami-New York), Juan Azulay (Los Angeles-Miami), Rene Gonzalez (Miami), Alex Gorlin (New York City), Sara Caples (New York City), Anne Heringer (Salzburg/Harvard University), Manuel Clavel Rojo (Murcia), and Brian Phillips (Philadelphia).