Max Wilson Strang (born November 18, 1970) is an American architect based in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, Florida, Punta Gord ...

. Strang is the founding principal of Strang Design (founded in 1998), a South Florida-based architecture firm with offices in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Ba ...

, and

Winter Haven, Florida Winter Haven is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. It is located about east of Tampa, Florida, Tampa and about southwest of Orlando, Florida, Orlando, with neighboring Lakeland, Florida, Lakeland located to its west. The city's popul ...

. Strang's firm is known for its focus on Regional Modernism (primarily in Florida) and designing with the consideration of the future impact climate change will have on residential and urban development in the coming decades. Strang's architecture is designed to be integrated within South Florida's subtropical climate and is known for fusing build materials like wood, concrete, glass, and metal elements.

Personal life, career and influences

Strang's grandfather, Charles Walton Adams, left Detroit in 1911 and moved to

Lake Alfred, Florida Lake Alfred is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Lakeland– Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was approximately 6,374 at the 2020 US census. History The city was established soon a ...

, where he grew citrus and was president of Adams Packing Association – one of the first and largest concentrate plants in Florida. He later married Emmie Renyolds Adams and had two children, Mary Reynolds Adams (Strang's biological mother) and Charles Walton Adams Jr. Mary Adams would later marry Carl J. Strang Jr. (Strang's biological father) in Winter Haven, Florida. Strang (a Florida native) grew up in

, where his parents commissioned a home by

Gene Leedy Gene Leedy (February 6, 1928 – November 24, 2018) was an American architect based in Winter Haven, Florida. He was a pioneer of the modern movement in Florida and later a founder of the Sarasota School of Architecture, whose members included P ...

, a recognized member of the Sarasota School of Architecture (SSOA). Strang's personal (and later professional) relationship with Gene Leedy introduced him to the architecture of Paul Rudolph and other SSOA leaders – further influencing Strang's dedication and focus on Regional Modernism, perpetuated through his firm. Strang is a graduate of the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

and

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. Before establishing his firm, he worked in the architecture offices of

SHoP Architects SHoP Architects is an architecture firm in Lower Manhattan, New York City, with projects located on five continents. Led by four principals, the firm provides services to residences, commercial buildings, schools and cultural institutions, as we ...

, and

Zaha Hadid Architects Zaha Hadid Architects is a British architecture and design firm founded by Zaha Hadid (1950–2016), with its main office situated in Clerkenwell, London. After the death of " starchitect" Hadid, Patrik Schumacher became head of the firm. At ...

Notable honors and awards

* 2022: AIA Miami Firm of the Year * 2022: AIA Miami Architect of the Year (Max Strang, FAIA) * 2022: AIA Florida Award of Excellence in Historic Preservation and Restoration (The Gene Leedy House) * 2021: AIA Miami Award of Excellence: Renovation and Restoration (The Gene Leedy House) * 2021: AIA Florida Award of Excellence: New Work (Tarpon Bend Residence) * 2020: AIA Florida Award of Excellence: New Work (Shelter Residence) * 2020: AIA Florida Unbuilt Award (Leedy Replica – M Series) * 2019: AIA Florida Medal of Honor for Design (Max Strang, FAIA) * 2018: AIA Miami Award of Excellence (Mountain Lake Residence) * 2016: AIA Florida Honor Award for Unbuilt Work (Mola) * 2016: Induction into AIA College of Fellows (Max Strang, FAIA) * 2014: AIA Florida Award of Excellence (Biscayne Bay Residence) * 2013: AIA Miami Silver Medal for Design (Max Strang, AIA) * 2010: AIA Miami Firm of the Year * 2007: AIA Miami Young Architect of the Year (Max Strang, AIA) * 2003: AIA Miami Young Architect of the Year (Max Strang, AIA)

Approach to sustainability

Strang's adoption and adaptation of Regional Modernism (see also

Critical Regionalism Critical regionalism is an approach to architecture that strives to counter the placelessness and lack of identity of the International Style, but also rejects the whimsical individualism and ornamentation of Postmodern architecture. The stylings ...

) is what he calls Environmental Modernism – focusing on the core tenets of the SSOA movement to connect architecture and environment. Strang prioritizes the use of local materials, such as Florida Keystone and Oolitic limestone for South Florida projects, as well as non-local, sustainably focused products. Strang has lectured about Florida's environmental concerns and ‘sea-level rise’, and its associated issues of inland migration while calling attention to the need for sustainable architectural materials and strategies. '''' Strang has openly participated in the dialogue of reducing ‘embodied energy’ in buildings. Strang's 2016 project, the Net-Zero House, in Miami Beach features 112 photovoltaic panels that feed batteries that is estimated to power the 5,500 square foot building for several months. When discussing the designs of newly built concrete homes on Florida's coastlines, Strang says: "there’s no denying that homes of this size and complexity contain lots of embodied energy. But, to try not to offset embodied energy would just be sitting idly by." In 2017 Strang partnered with architect Gene Leedy FAIA on a project they called the "reissues" in which Leedy's 1,100-square-foot courtyard home designs were re-envisioned as an alternative to today's larger residences. The project received an award for design excellence from AIA Florida.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strang, Max American architects 1970 births Living people