Resilience - University of Miami School of Architecture

3.
Campus History
1. Agassiz Building, Yehle. Note exisng mangrove behind
newly placed fill.
rsmas campus development
choice of site
The University of Miami marine laboratory was formally established in
1943, and its inial home was in a private boathouse on Miami Beach. The
research team grew, and through a series of contracts with state and commercial
conservaon and marine resource interests, the instuon grew to the
point where it needed a consolidated home. In 1951, Dade County offered the
University a long-term lease on 6.38 acres along Bear Cut if a marine research
building could be built within the year. Funds were raised with contribuons
from the fishing and boang community and through newspaper appeals.
the structure resembled the architecture of 1930’s Miami Beach. However,
the structure was elevated a full story, acknowledging its exposed locaon.
The Collier Building, a similar laboratory structure, was added two years later.
Both were oriented east-west along the shoreline, maximizing southern exposure
and onshore breezes for natural cooling potenal (figure 3).
academic core
Over the next decade, the three secons of Grosvenor were constructed, allowing
for consolidaon of the marine library, laboratories, and offices into
3. Collier and Agassiz from Bear Cut 1955, Yehle
2. Agassiz interior showing open plan and exposed
structure andservices, Yehle
original structures
Designed by Marion Manley, the Agassiz Building was opened in 1953 as the
first structure of the Virginia Key Campus (figure 1,2). The elevated structure
had no interior walls, and infrastructure was exposed allowing for adjustment
according to varying research requirements (Yehle). Seawater was pumped
in directly from the adjacent bay, creang a literal connecon between the
scienfic life of the University and its physical context. A simple stuccoed concrete
volume with jalousie windows and a connuous horizontal shading fin,
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