Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacqueline Gonzalez Touzet.
Hi Jacqueline, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Havana and left Cuba with my family when I was a baby. We lived in Miami and later in the Panama Canal Zone before returning to Miami, where I have spent most of my life.
I think those places shaped me in different ways. Living in Panama gave me a deep connection to nature and the lushness of the tropics. It also made me think about Latin America, and about my own Cuban roots, in a broader way. Miami, and Miami Beach especially, formed me architecturally. I grew up surrounded by buildings that responded to heat and sun almost instinctively: courtyards, shaded walkways, deep overhangs, breezeways and lush gardens, along with this incredible layering of Mediterranean, Art Deco, midcentury modern and Caribbean influences.
I studied architecture at Cornell, where I received my Bachelor of Architecture, and eventually came home to Miami. Before starting Touzet Studio, I worked in large architectural firms and became a vice president of a major practice. I learned an enormous amount, but Carlos and I started Touzet Studio in 2004 for a very simple reason: we really love design.
We love making things. We love materials and details, understanding a place, working closely with clients and staying involved in the architecture. We never wanted to build a practice where becoming principals meant becoming removed from the actual work.
Miami has been an extraordinary place to build that practice because it isn’t one thing. It is a mosaic of neighborhoods with their own histories and identities. Our work in Coral Gables should feel different from our work in South Beach, Coconut Grove or Little Havana.
In fact, our own studio is in a 1920s building in Little Havana that we adapted rather than remade. We uncovered and restored the old heart-pine floors, retained the original open volume, reused furniture and materials, and kept a large central space open for meetings, conversations and gatherings. I love that the place where we work reflects so many of the things we believe about architecture.
Over the years the practice has grown and the range of work has expanded, but that underlying curiosity has remained remarkably consistent. I’m still fascinated by how architecture can belong to a place, how old buildings can be given new lives, how materials weather in our climate and how we design for a Miami that is changing.
My relationship with the city has changed as I’ve gotten older too. I’m much more involved now in questions of preservation, resilience and the future of Miami, and I’ve realized that being an architect here isn’t only about designing individual buildings. It’s also about participating in the larger conversation about what kind of city we want to leave behind.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It hasn’t always been a smooth road, but I also want to be careful not to make my story sound like one of constant struggle, because that isn’t how I feel about my life. I feel incredibly lucky.
I’m a first-generation college graduate, and Carlos and I built Touzet Studio ourselves. We didn’t have family money behind the practice or corporate funding. We worked very hard, and we still do. But we have also been extraordinarily fortunate. Work came to us. Recognition and awards came earlier and perhaps more easily than they do for many very talented architects. And most importantly, we have been blessed with amazing clients who trusted us and gave us opportunities to do work we genuinely care about.
There have certainly been difficult periods. We opened the studio in 2004 and were still young when the 2008 financial crisis hit Miami. We made it through that, and then through the uncertainty of COVID. Running your own firm means there is no one somewhere above you absorbing those shocks. You are responsible for the practice and for the people who have chosen to work with you. That can be frightening, but it also teaches you a great deal about yourself.
Being a young woman in architecture had its challenges too. I was frequently the only woman in the room, and sometimes the youngest person there. But strangely, I thrived in that environment. I have always been a little bit of a unicorn. I learned to know my work, do my homework, speak up and not be intimidated by being different from everyone else at the table.
Carlos and I also raised two children while building the practice together, which made for a very full life and not always a particularly balanced one. We both work incredibly hard. Neither of us is afraid of that.
So when I look back, I don’t really think of myself as having been shaped by struggle. I think I’ve been shaped by opportunity, hard work, some difficult moments, and an enormous amount of good fortune. I’m very grateful for the life and practice we’ve been able to build
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Touzet Studio is perhaps best known for highly crafted residential and luxury mixed use work, but our practice is intentionally broader than that. We design houses, hospitality, retail, adaptive reuse and urban projects for clients who share one trait: they care deeply about design.
We love beautiful materials and exceptional craft, but underneath that has to be design intelligence. For us, luxury isn’t about excess. It’s about quality, experience and attention: the way materials come together, the quality of light, and the relationship between architecture and landscape.
We are also very rooted in Miami. We don’t believe there is one “Miami style,” but we do believe architecture should be of its place and respond to its climate, culture and history. Coral Gables, Little Havana, Coconut Grove and Miami Beach are very different places, and the architecture should understand that.
We’ve designed five buildings on Lincoln Road over the years, including projects for Apple and Nike and the redevelopment of 800 Lincoln Road. Now we’re working again with our longtime client Comras Company on NoLi, just off Lincoln Road. We’re taking overlooked alleys and existing buildings and transforming them into shaded pedestrian passages, small shops, landscape and public spaces. Rather than erasing what is there, we’re trying to uncover the potential that was already there.
We’ve been fortunate to have our work recognized with numerous design awards. Touzet Studio was named AIA Miami Firm of the Year, and I’ve been honored as AIA Miami Architect of the Year, with the AIA Miami Silver Medal, and more recently as Sustainable Architect of the Year. We’ve also had the opportunity to work with wonderful private clients, leading Miami developers and global companies.
After more than twenty years, Carlos and I are still deeply involved in the work because we genuinely love designing. That’s probably the simplest explanation of the studio.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The most important lesson I’ve learned is that my best work comes from a place of love and gratitude, and the work is to try to be mindful of that.
That isn’t always easy. There are difficult projects, difficult periods and times when things simply don’t go the way you hoped. It’s easy to become frustrated or cynical. I’ve learned that I do my best work when I can step outside of that and remember how fortunate I am to do something I love, to stay curious, and to keep looking for the beauty and the opportunity in what is in front of me.
Architecture is inherently an act of optimism. We imagine something that doesn’t exist yet and believe it can be made real. We ask our clients to believe in it too, and to invest enormous amounts of time, resources and trust in making it happen. That deserves our very best.
So I try to keep learning, to stay open, and to maintain a sense of wonder. I believe design matters. I believe beauty matters. And after more than thirty years of practice, I’ve learned that the work I’m proudest of usually begins with caring deeply about what we are making and the people we are making it for.
For me, the lesson is to remember that, and to keep coming back to it.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www. touzetstudio.com
- Instagram: Jacqueline Gonzalez Touzet LinkedIn
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Touzet-Studio-106111951125249/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TouzetStudio
