MIAMI DADE COLLEGE PRESENTS AN EVENING WITH RENOWNED FLORIDA ARCHITECT GENE LEEDY
Miami, November 8, 2007 – Miami Dade College’s School of Architecture and its Earth Ethics Institute present a lecture by distinguished Florida architect Gene Leedy and the Sarasota School of Architecture at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 12 at MDC’s Kendall Campus, 11011 SW 104 Street, Building 6, Room 6120, Miami.
“Gene Leedy designed houses that were energy-efficient at a time when there was no air conditioning,” said MDC Earth Ethics Institute Director Colleen Ahern-Hettich. “The Earth Ethics Institute wants to help put thought into all the disciplines about energy conservation.”
Leedy is a pioneer of the modern movement in Florida and one of the founders of the acclaimed Sarasota School of Architecture, which is credited with the design of sliding doors as a way to bring the outside indoors. During a career that spanned 50 years, his creations featured distinct characteristics, such as honest, natural materials, design for the climate, adaptation of the building to its environment, seamless integration of the outside and the inside, incorporation of ‘wasted’ space, design for the lifestyle of the occupants, not for curb appeal, and walled-in courtyards.
Selected as one of Architectural Record’s successful young architects in 1965, Leedy was awarded the Lifetime Design Achievement Award from Florida Association of Architects in 1988. He joined the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 1992 and received the Outstanding Alumni Award from the College of Architecture of the University of Florida in 1993. In total, he has received more than 50 architectural awards both nationally and statewide for his work, and has been extensively published in the U.S. and Europe.
The event is co-sponsored by Architecture Club AIA Miami, Max Strang Architecture and DoCoMoMo Fl.
What: Lecture with Gene Leedy and the Sarasota School of Architecture
When: Monday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m.
Where: Miami Dade College’s Kendall Campus
11011 S.W. 104 Street, Building 6, Room 6120, Miami
Admission is $10 for general public and free for sponsors, including MDC students, faculty and staff.
For more information, please contact: Colleen Ahern-Hettich, director of the Earth Ethics Institute, (305) 237-3796
Media-only contacts: Juan Mendieta, MDC director of communications (305) 237-7611, jmendiet@mdc.edu; Beverly C. Rodrigues, MDC director of media relations (305) 237-3949, brodrigu@mdc.edu or Sue Arrowsmith (305) 237-3710, sue.arrowsmith@mdc.edu.