The U-SoA Jorge M. Perez Architecture Center is the centerpiece of the five-building complex located in the heart of the beautiful Coral Gables campus. The 8,600 square foot building was made possible by a donation from Jorge M. Perez, founder and CEO of The Related Group of Florida and a UM Trustee. It was designed by world renowned architectural theorist and innovator in traditional architecture and urbanism Leon Krier, in conjunction with Merrill Pastor Architects of Vero Beach, and the firm of Ferguson Glasgow Schuster Soto of Coral Gables.
The Perez Center houses the Stanley and Jewell Glasgow Lecture Hall, with seating for 144 people, as well as the Irvin Korach Gallery, with 150 feet of exhibition surface, and the Marshall and Vera Lea Rinker Classroom.
The Perez Architecture Center provides an appropriate setting for distinguished speakers, public events that makes it the hub of U-SoA activities, as well as an important part of the U-SoA outreach to the community. The Korach Gallery and Daly Loggia are often home to reviews and exhibitions of student work, faculty / staff exhibitions, receptions and more.
Other donors who enabled the completion of the Architecture Center include Thomas F. Daly, for the Center’s Loggia, and Leonard and Jayne Abess for the Breezeway.
Groups interested in reserving space in the building may contact the School of Architecture Facilities Manager, Zoila Lopez, at zlopez@miami.edu or 305-284-5000.
About the Architects
Leon Krier’s theories are the foundation for the urban development recommendations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union, and have been widely applied in Europe and in the United States through the New Urbanism. He has taught at the School of Architecture as well as at the Architectural Association and Royal College in London, Princeton University, Yale University, and Harvard Design School. His awards include the Berlin Prize for Architecture, The Driehaus, and the Jefferson Memorial Medal.
Merrill Pastor Architects have exhibited in the Chicago Athenaeum and the Institute of Classical Architecture in New York. In 2004, they won the National AIA Design Award for the Seaside Chapel and in 1999 the National AIA Design Award for the Windsor Town Center as well as The Driehaus Prize.
The firm of Ferguson Glasgow Schuster Soto was founded in 1955 in Coral Gables, home of the University of Miami. The late Senior Partner Stanley Glasgow was an alumnus of the School of Architecture and a member of the Board of Trustees of the University. Mr. Glasgow’s close relationship with the School dates back to 1984, when his firm established a scholarship for UM architecture students. The new building was possible through a substantial gift from the Stanley and Jewell Glasgow Estate. Natividad Soto, also an alumnus, is president of the firm, and managed the construction documents and construction of the building.
