Posted on Sun, Sep. 02, 2007

Alfred Browning Parker, legendary South Florida architect now living in Gainesville, came back to Miami some months ago to show his work at Miami Dade College. He chose to look back at homes he had designed, built and owned.

At 90, he wowed the crowd.

Common to all of Parker's work are these: materials indigenous to the area, such as oolitic limestone; a craftsman's respect for the materials -- he often built the homes and furnishings himself; and a deep belief in working with the climate, not against it.

He started small, with a ''six-week wonder'' he built quickly in 1945 in Gainesville while in school, and finished his talk with his Golfview home, also in Gainesville, where he is a visiting professor at the University of Florida. Most, however, were Miami homes, and several were featured in House Beautiful and other magazines. They show the strong influence of the organic architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Parker's signature designs include wooden louvered doors, called Persiana doors, which allow breezes in but close tight when winds become fierce; large windows on the windward side and smaller windows on the opposite side of a home to pull air through and out of the house; and wide overhangs.

''Use and beauty are two essentials of architecture,'' he said. ``In my [architecture] classes, I have rarely taught a class without bringing up use and beauty.''

There are five principles that Parker espouses:

• Build simply.

• Build as directly as possible with no complications.

• Use the materials at hand and keep these sparse.

• Let your building love its site and glorify its climate.

• Design for use; make it beautiful.