Raymond Fort, 38

As the son of Arquitectonica founders Bernardo Fort-Brescia and Laurinda Hope Spear, perhaps Raymond Fort was destined to become an architect. Still, he explored other interests, such as the trombone and painting, though none compared to architecture.

“I could place ideas onto the public realm and not just, say, on a canvas that maybe wasn’t seen anywhere,” Fort said. “There are so many different levels of architecture that you can practice. I saw an opportunity there to really carve my own path and explore my own interests within a very broad profession.”

Working alongside a team, Fort has come up with creative solutions to ensure that projects fit seamlessly into their neighborhoods.

Take the Mr. C hotel in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood. He elevated the building with columns. The move created an open-air parking lot underneath that met the city’s requirements and opened up the space to become a public pedestrian pathway through Coconut Grove. 

“Despite being a private project, it engages the public, whether you’re a hotel guest or just passing through on your bike,” Fort said. “We have to always consider the people who are ultimately going to use these projects to create something that is a benefit to the surrounding community.”

In South Beach, he helped design the Five Park condo tower, a tough undertaking. The architect had to satisfy a public wary of construction and accommodate the developers, who wanted to maximize the site and build tall. After 185 meetings, the result was a 43-story high-rise angled southwest to capture views of Brickell’s skyline for condo owners, and a 3-acre public park that also functions as a bioswale, absorbing stormwater and mitigating flooding. 

“Being the point person between the client, the politics, the neighbors, and trying to establish a design that I think ties all of this together was one of the biggest challenges of my career,” Fort said. A few years later, he’s still proud of the results.