Meet Deborah Desilets
Discussing and signing this first-ever monograph, with a foreword by Ian Schrager
Morris Lapidus: The Architecture of Joy (Rizzoli, $65) 
Monday, October 25, 8pm
Books & Books, Coral Gables
and
Tuesday, October 26, 7:30pm
Books & Books, Bal Harbour Shops
Known for inventing the postwar resort hotel with the Fontainebleau and the Eden Roc in Miami Beach, Morris Lapidus (1902-2001) is revered for his joyful interpretation of modernist tenets through an American vernacular of spectacle and whimsy. Lapidus enthusiastically embraced modernism’s formal freedom and sensuality while rejecting its more rigid principles, producing a unique style that seamlessly blends baroque fantasia with modernism’s clean lines and flowing spaces. His exuberant curving walls, zigzagging facades, and deft manipulation of space created dramatic forms that transform the moods of their occupants. In 2000 Lapidus was honored by the Cooper-Hewitt as an “American Original,” an award created especially for him. This comprehensive volume presents the highlights of Lapidus’s extraordinary career. From seductive modern shops and private residences to iconic hotels and residential towers in New York, Miami Beach, the Caribbean, and beyond, this iconoclast proves that “too much is never enough.”
Deborah Desilets is the holder of the Lapidus archives. She has lectured extensively both nationally and internationally on his work.