Word: arquitectonica
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Even as Anglo designers reach over to borrow from Spanish traditions, many Hispanic designers are seeking to break out of the constrictions of stereotype. Fort-Brescia, 36, and the stars of his 65-member firm, Arquitectonica, have designed some of the most arresting modernistic buildings in Miami, Washington and Los Angeles. "I think there is a misconception that / Hispanic influence means that everything has to look like Spain did three centuries ago," says Fort-Brescia. "To me it doesn't translate into arched colonnade...
...work of Arquitectonica Alumni Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk is ferociously intelligent, as well as the most neoclassical of the lot. The couple practice and build mainly in South Florida, so it is fitting that they are attracted to Mediterranean forms. Theirs is a swaggering, hard-edged classicism on the cheap. Out of stucco they make neo-Roman villas: stark, complicated buildings that recall the Viennese Adolf Loos and do not suffer in the comparison...
...more than a decade: the adventurous geometry of "late modernists" such as I.M. Pei and Edward Larrabee Barnes; the office atrium pioneered by Kevin Roche; the glass- , enclosed elevators popularized by John Portman's Hyatt hotel designs; and the spirited use of color epitomized by the Miami firm Arquitectonica. The German-born Jahn, 45, an architect celebrated--some would say notorious--for his arch flourishes with high-tech elements, had applied some of the same ideas in his own earlier work, notably his 1982 First Source Center atrium in South Bend, Ind. Moreover, in such designs as his witty...
...silver-plate candlesticks and bowls ($125 to $350). The collection shuns traditional five-piece place settings for eclectic offerings. There is, for instance, Venturi's complex "Grandmother," a pastel floral print overlaid with bold black dashes. "Miami Beach," by Spear, a partner in Florida's brash Arquitectonica firm, mixes soft-colored blobs and a bright red bar. Chicago's Tigerman, known for his theatrical home designs, created "Sunshine," in which bold colors interplay with a cartoon-cute pink angel. The elegant and evocative "Majestic," by Stern, a professor of architecture at Columbia University, combines art deco gilt...
...main drawback of Arquitectonica's visually noisy modernism is that it does not get along easily with older, more urbane neighbors. One also shudders at the thought of mediocre imitations of Arquitectonica's audacity. It is inimitable. Only the young team's unique combination of skills could bring such fresh appeal and energy to the architectural scene. -By Wolf Von Eckardt