William Morgan Architects

Information:

Educated at Harvard under Walter Gropius and Jose Luis Sert and trained in the Cambridge office of Paul Rudolph, William Morgan was appointed a Lehman Fellow of Harvard University and studied as a Fulbright grantee in Italy in 1958 and 1959. Subsequently he received a Wheelwright Fellowship of the Graduate School of Design, and a Graham Foundation Grantee for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts for research. Mr. Morgan is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a past chairman of the AIA Committee on Design.

In 1961 Mr. Morgan established his architectural practice in Jacksonville, Florida. Well known for excellence in architectural design, his works range from modest residences to such major projects as the Florida State Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan; the U.S. Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Westinghouse World Headquarters in Orlando, Pyramid Condominium in Ocean City, Maryland; Bloomingdale's store in Miami and Neiman Marcus in Ft. Lauderdale. Often published in the United States and abroad, numerous design awards have recognized his work.

Over the years, Mr. Morgan has lectured and served as a visiting critic at such architectural schools as Harvard, Tulane, North Carolina State University, and the University of Florida. Appointed Gibbons Eminent Scholar in Architecture and Urban Planning in 1990, he also has served as the Beinecke-Reeves Distinguished Chair in Architectural Preservation at the University of Florida. In 1998 the American Institute of Architects conferred an Institute Honor on Mr. Morgan in recognition of his lifelong research into the beginnings of architectural creativity.

Design philosophy:For half a century, William Morgan has reigned as one of America’s most prolific Modernist builders.  It was fifty years ago, in 1960, when he first began his luminous career as an architect; forging a framework of eco-modern sustainable living by erecting sites respectful of the environment, also being elegant, accommodating dwellings that are very forward thinking. His mostly projects are designed to preserved the natural setting as a part of its therapeutic concept.

• Conners House, Ponte Vedra Beach.• Edwards House, Atlantic Beach.• Drysdale House, Atlantic Beach .• Beach House, Ponte Vedra Beach.• Hilltop House, Brooksville.• Goodloe House, Ponte Vedra Beach. • Cornelius House, Atlantic Beach.• Blackburn House, Gainesville.• Root House, Ormond Beach .• Lagoon House, Jacksonville.• William Morgan House, Atlantic Beach.• Ocean Forest House, Atlantic Beach .• Tree house, Atlantic Beach.• Grandy House, Atlantic Beach.• Sea Gardens, Atlantic Beach. • Forest House, Gainesville.• Dune House, Atlantic Beach.• West-Hill House, Atlantic Beach. • Dylan Morgan House, Atlantic Beach.• Lankshear House, Atlantic Beach.• Lott House, Amelia Island .

• Museum of Natural History, Gainesville.• Interama Amphitheater, Miami.• Pyramid Condominium, Ocean City, Maryland.• Gilldorn Savings, Pawnee and Mount Zion, IL.• Federal Courthouse and Offices, Ft. Lauderdale.• District Court of Appeal, Tallahassee.• Central Park Offices, Stuart, Florida.• Seaplace Apartments, Atlantic Beach.• Westinghouse Headquarters, Orlando.• Police Administration Building, Jacksonville.• Bloomingdale's at the Falls, Miami.• Law Exchange Building, Jacksonville.• State Offices in Parking Garage, Jacksonville.• Livery Stable Office Building, Jacksonville.

Residential Projects: Commercial Projects:

Hilltop house (Brooksville):The Hilltop house, one of the Morgan’sGreat designs, epitomizes his intention to Build with the earth, not on it, The Essential attribute of his earth architecture.This site is a hill located in central Florida,2000 ft in diameter, rising 70 ft, the top ofWhich the client chose as their favorite picnic spot before the house was built. When First seen from a great distance, the house strikes at once natural and artificial, archaic and modern. The house draws the Massive heaviness of the hill up into a pyramid form, its corners oriented to cardinal points, and its spaces formed by earth retaining walls of geometric precision. The rooms of house open in four directions, fronted by protected terracesCut into the ground, so that this most earth bound of houses is, paradoxically, cross ventilated by all four winds. The upper level named as “The observatory”, Is a single, central room, crowned by a pyramidal roof that brings the lines of the house and hill to its peek, and from which one is afforded uninterrupted views of The surrounding landscape.

Pyramid Condominium:

Inspired by the natural forms of wind-sculpted beach dunes, the initial design envisioned three housing structures composed of folded vertical slabs, towers towards the land, to he west, and pyramidal masses stepping down to beach, to the east. The original design also proposed a low horizontal reaction deck to be placed parallel to the access road, binding together the three housing structures and creating a street edge. Only one of the housing structures wasrealized containing 171 one and two bed roomed apartments with the bedrooms on the west, or land, side, and the living-dining spaces opening to the east or ocean side, each provided with a spacious balcony. The ingenious plan involves interlocking the units through small offsets in the parallel wall between, in such a way that each unit “borrows” space from the balcony of one neighbor and from the bathroom corridor of the other in order to create 16 ft wide living-dining room.

Law Exchange Building:Sited downtown near the country courthouse, jail and police building, this design have three floors of professional offices above two levels of parking, and provides several critically important amenities to both its occupants and the citizens of the city. First is the manner in Which the building holds and defines the street edge; second is the relatively low scale of four to five stories; third is the provision of parking within the building; and fourth is the manner in which the building structure cantilevers 6 ft to the east, not only significaly increasing the space of the office floor but providing an overhang which covers he entire public sidewalk, protecting it from both sun and rain. The building’s structure while exceedingly rational and economical, also provides several design benefits. The parking deck have sloped floors, eliminating the need for circulation ramps and maximizing the number of parking spaces.