Architect Max Strang recently released a monumental monograph of his work in Florida, and particularly Southern Florida, where he has developed a contemporary architectural style adapted to the local climate. ‘Environmental Modernism: the Architecture of [Strang]’ is rich with photography, floor plans, and renderings of his work. Although mostly luxurious houses, the book also contains some of his urban planning, high-end condominium buildings, and his pavilion at the Kampong.

Max Strang is one of a small but fascinating group of subtropical modernist architects practicing in South Florida that have an authentic desire to continue the tradition of an equally small but fascinating group of modernist architects who worked a generation or two before them. His work, like that of architects Kenneth Treister, Alfred Browning Parker, and others in Miami, and the Sarasota School of architects on the west coast of Florida, all of whom he takes inspiration from, is deeply embedded in the idea of creating a Floridian modernist vernacular architecture. Local materials, suited to the environment, are used. Traditional building techniques are used in a modern way. And the climate is used as an asset and embraced.