Lane, William Interview

Material Information

Subjects / Keywords:: Oral histories—Miami Beach (Fla.)
William Lane Architect, Inc.
Lifeguard stations
Lapidus, Morris
Genre:: Video Recordings
Spatial Coverage:: United States -- Florida -- Miami Beach
Coordinates:: 25.851829 x -80.138121

Scope and Content:: William Lane is a Miami-Beach based architect who designed the whimsical, colorful lifeguard stations which have become international icons of Miami Beach. Lane talks about the conceptualization of the project and about the role of "populist architecture," which speaks to ordinary people. He talks about the influence of Morris Lapidus and the idea of fantasy set design as part of the allure Miami Beach has always had. He describes in detail Lapidus' apartment on Miami Beach. He talks about working on the adaptive re-use of the Pancoast residence, now the Freehand Hotel, home of the restaurant "27," for which he won an award from Dade Heritage Trust. Lane discusses the dilemma of how to preserve the historic buildings on Miami Beach while adapting proactively to the inevitability of sea level rise.