University of Miami School of Architecture Thomas P. Murphy Design Studio Building

A new studio building in Florida nods to the existing campus while creating an open environment for architecture students.

For decades, the heart of the University of Miami School of Architecture has been a row of long, thin buildings on the southern shore of Lake Osceola. Designed after World War II by Marion Manley—one of Florida’s first licensed women architects—to serve as dormitories for returning soldiers, the buildings were later adapted to include offices, classrooms, and studios. But because they began life as a residential facility, they are shot through with structural columns and load-bearing walls, constraining the sort of open, flexible spaces that today’s architectural education requires.

Enter Miami-based firm Arquitectonica, with a brief from the university to create a new studio building—this time with expansive flexible spaces to accommodate classes, lectures, and crits. But the result is more than just an open-plan box: A low-slung, 20,000-square-foot shed made almost entirely of raw concrete, the Thomas P. Murphy Design Studio Building is both a striking marker on the architecture campus and a teaching tool for the classes within.

Internally, the studio is defined by a rigid, 25-foot grid with minimal internal supports, which can accommodate a variety of desk and class configurations. Outside, it is defined by a curvy concrete cantilever—what Raymond Fort, Assoc. AIA, the partner-in-charge of the project (and son of Arquitectonica founders Bernardo Fort-Brescia, FAIA, and Laurinda Spear, FAIA) calls the “oversized eyebrow” of the building—which provides both passive cooling and an overhang to accommodate outdoor events and classes.

Despite the new building’s expressive curves, it also includes a nod to the original Manley structures. The structure is 25 feet wide and about 175 feet long, the same overall dimensions as the Manley buildings. “So we basically took a bunch of those buildings and pushed them together,” Fort says.

As a pedagogical tool, the building offers a series of ready-made lessons for students. To demonstrate structure, the 18-foot-tall ceiling is supported by thin steel columns, leaving the interior almost completely open save for a concrete core that holds the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. Permanent internal walls stop short of the ceiling to show they are not load bearing. To define space elsewhere, for crits or lectures, for example, the architects turned to retractable red curtains that pull double duty as sound barriers.

By working almost exclusively in concrete, Fort and his team turned the building into a master class in the use of a single material—the floors, ceiling, and several walls are concrete, as are the countertops. “We tried to show how that material—how any material—can be used in many ways,” he says. “It doesn’t have to have a singular purpose.”

Project Credits
Project: University of Miami School of Architecture Thomas P. Murphy Design Studio Building, Coral Gables, Fla.
Client: University of Miami
Architect: Arquitectonica, Miami . Bernardo Fort-Brescia, FAIA; Raymond Fort, Assoc. AIA; Sherri Gutierrez, AIA (architect of record); Alfonso Jurado, AIA; Rafael Guissarri, AIA
Interior Designer: ArquitectonicaInteriors and University of Miami Interior Design, Office of the University Architect
M/E/P Engineer: Stantec
Structural Engineer: Garcia Mullin Group
Civil Engineer: VSN
Geotechnical Engineer: NV5
Construction Manager/General Contractor: Coastal Construction
Landscape Architect: ArquitectonicaGEO
Lighting Designer: Miami Lighting Design Associates
Sustainability Consultant: SUMAC
Acoustical Consultant: Shen Milsom & Wilke
Size: 13,125 square feet
Cost: Withheld