Rada Photography: Mid-Century Architecture and Culture in South Florida and the Caribbean

The life and work of two photographers who captured the rise of Tropical Modern architecture in Miami and the surrounding region

In this first critical biography of the life and work of Annette and Rudi Rada, two photographers working in South Florida and the Caribbean from approximately 1946 to 1975, architectural historian Victor Deupi explores the lasting significance of the Radas in documenting the cities, buildings, landscapes, and people of the region during major social and economic transformations of the twentieth century.

During the South Florida building boom of the 1950s, the Radas were highly sought-after photographers. Magazines, newspapers, and travel firms hired the Radas to help advertise new houses and hotels, promoting the tropics and subtropics as a still-untouched paradise. In the Caribbean, Rudi Rada photographed new buildings intruding artistically and commercially into the natural environment while Annette Rada adopted a more ethnographic approach, photographing local people amid burgeoning mass tourism. Whether in South Florida, Cuba, or elsewhere in their travels, the work of the Radas captured postwar architectural evolution, as well as challenges faced by populations adapting to modernization.

Featuring a wealth of never-before-published photographs and material from several archives and collections, Rada Photography adds portrayals of the largely overlooked mid-century architecture of South Florida and the Caribbean to existing architectural photography in the US and Latin America. The artistic output of Annette and Rudi Rada documents how architects and architecture in the region gave shape to architectural styles now known as Miami Modernism or Tropical Modern.

Victor Deupi is professor of practice in the School of Architecture at the University of Miami. He is the author of many books, including Emilio Sanchez in New York and Latin America and Cuban Modernism: Mid-Century Architecture 1940-1970.