The Amertec Building

Bruce Goff, An Influence on Chayo Frank

The Amertec Building was an office and local landmark located at 149 West 21st Street in Hialeah, Florida, and was designed by architect Chayo Frank. Frank attended the University of Oklahoma School of Architecture in 1962, where the influence of Bruce Goff was still strong. Distinguished by his organic, eclectic, and often flamboyant designs for houses and other buildings in Oklahoma and elsewhere. Goff was the architectural school’s dean from 1949 to 1956.

In Chayo Frank’s own words, “To know Bruce Goff was to know how much he loved architecture. It was also to realize what a vast imagination he had, and how little of it was used in the architecture that was actually built. Few of those designs came close to what he was capable of doing. Imagine how he must have felt – so much potential not put to use. I mean, this was his whole life, not just his profession, and to not be able to do what he loved to the extent of his capabilities, had to be a great sorrow.

Yet, I never saw BG depressed or angry or defeated. He was always positive and enthused. I feel this was in good part because, no matter how much he loved architecture and seeing his architecture built, what was all the more vital to him, was his love for creativity and to give expression to that love by creating. That he did – continually!

Beyond the joy he experienced by simply creating his architectural designs, whether built or not, he was also able to find aesthetic self-expression by doing his paintings. He could also find gratification by seeing how his teaching facilitated individual self-expression in so many of his students. Added to these was his pure joy in experiencing the beauty created by others, in particular music. All of these gave meaning and a sense of fulfillment to his life that compensated for what the practice of architecture might not have satisfied. And because of that, the realities of the architectural profession and its incredible number of obstacles, if I might opine, barely fazed him.

So it should be understood that the real value of loving creating, even when it can’t be used for others, is to use it for yourself. That is reason enough to enjoy studying and applying the following concepts of design. So what needs to be understood is that what’s offered here is also an alternate approach for pursuing aesthetic self-expression, irrespective of an architectural practice. Because it is usually impossible to express the love of architecture in the throes of an architectural practice, doing compositions, or art of any sort that is completely under your own control, can be an outlet for that love.”

The Amertec Building

After graduating from the University of Oklahoma School of Architecture in 1967, architect Chayo Frank was tasked with designing an office building for his father’s architectural woodworking and store fixture manufacturing business, Amertec Associates Inc. The existing factory was “U” shaped, and the office building was to be placed in the “U.”

With the use of sprayed concrete construction, he realized his design plan, which involved a combination of free-form aesthetics; parts of the building were completely free-form, such as the water flumes on the exterior, while curved rebars were used to form the large geometric shapes. In some cases, rooms were also designed as 3-dimensional trapezoidal wood forms to contrast with the curvilinear concrete spaces surrounding them.

Chayo Frank loved nature and began developing an idea while the building was being painted. He wanted his design to transcend architecture as a building and become what he called an “organic entity,” which involved combining all aspects of design to resemble an object of nature. To achieve this, he used metallic paints that enabled sunlight to reflect off the textures on the exterior of the building, giving it a more life-like quality. He created a smooth exterior base that was painted the same yellow color as the surrounding factory in an effort to interlock the two structures. Frank also painted free-form designs as an ornamental element.

Construction on the building began in September 1968 and was completed in mid-1969. O. J. Jorgensen was the structural engineer, Bradley & Whitworth were the mechanical and electrical engineers, and Vin-Lox Corporation was the contractor.

Demolition

His father’s business soon outgrew the offices and workshop behind the building and in 1972, moved to a conventional building at 7007 North Waterway Drive in West Dade. In 1977, it was rented and later sold to Creative Displays, a firm that designed and created trade show exhibits, displays, museum exhibits, and scale models.

By 1994, the building was empty. In later years, the building was painted white and used as storage for a produce company. Shortly before its demolition, it was repainted in colors that some have pointed out as the colors of the Miami Dolphins. The building was demolished in February 2017 to be replaced with a medical clinic.

You can read about the Amertec Building and many other abandoned places in my book, Lost Miami: Stories and Secrets Behind Magic City Ruins.

Photo Gallery #1

Photo Gallery #2