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Alison Spear

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New Urbanism meets Modernism
Affordable Luxury
Affordable Design and Architecture
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How to Hire an Architect

Alison Spear, AIA, is the principal of her own firm in Miami and Manhattan. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University and a Master of Science in architecture and urban design from Columbia University. Spear is a licensed architect in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida; and is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the New York Architectural League, the National Council of Registration Boards and the Miami Design Preservation League.

Spear has traveled widely in the United States, and also in the Caribbean, South America, Central America, Mexico, England, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, India, China, Japan and Thailand, studying the architecture of these locales. Her travels have given her a cosmopolitan outlook, which influences her designs.

Spear's career began as a junior designer in the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and the New York City office of Arquitectonica, a Miami and worldwide architecture firm, the principals of which are her sister, Laurinda Spear, FAIA, and her brother-in law, Bernardo Fort-Brescia, FAIA. In 1989, she went out on her own with her first project for Bright Lights, Big City author Jay McInerney. The project was covered in the October 1989 issue of House & Garden. This was followed by projects for Francis Ford Coppola and Katie Ford, owner of Ford Models. In 1999, Spear designed the award winning 20,000 square-foot Holly Hunt showroom in Miami's Design District; and in 2002 André Balaz, of New York City's famous Mercer Hotel, chose Spear to revamp his Miami Beach 107-room Lido Hotel Spa. Spear has designed many Upper East Side residences and downtown lofts in New York City, along with residential work in Long Island, Washington, D.C., and California.

Her 12-story, 66 unit loft-type residential condominium in Miami Beach for the luxury ‘New Urbanism’ development Aqua, by developer Craig Robins, has recently been completed, along with her other Miami residential and commercial projects. One of her current preeminent Miami designs is the residence of Alberto Ibarguen, publisher of the Miami Herald. Commercial projects of note include a popular Fifth Avenue restaurant, an entire floor of the former Tower One of the World Trade Center and a warehouse renovation for the well-known carpet and textiles showroom of Odegard, Inc.

Current projects include a renovation of the South Beach Miami store for Nicole Miller; the pied-a-terre for Bottega Veneta Creative Director Tomas Maier; and the kitchen and family area for House Beautiful's Allison Island Miami Showcase home.

The firm has received two American Institute of Architects Awards of Excellence and was selected as Interior Design Firm of the Year. For the last three years, Spear has been included as one of the top 125 Interior Designers of the Year by House Beautiful, and in 2006 she was named as one of the “Design Stars of Tomorrow” by the Design Center of the Americas.

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