ARTIST TLK focuses on Daniel Arsham and Alexander Gorlin

Reserve Channel is a station on YouTube, that focuses on variety of different topics, usually done in an interview setting of some kind.  One of these segments is called Artist Tlk, hosted by Pharrell Williams. The same Pharrell Williams of NERD who wants to turn parts of Overtown into Ice Cream City.  Don’t know what Ice Cream City is? Check it out.

But Pharrell is a design enthusiast, and in the segment above he interviews two designers with ties to Miami. The first is architect turned artist Daniel Arsham.  Arsham is a former Miami resident who started the group Snarkitecture , and lately has been designing more interactive art pieces.  You might remember his work from last year’s Art Basel where he designed the entrance pavilion to Design/Miami titled Drift.  The second interviewee is Alexander Gorlin, a New York based architect.  Gorlin’s connection to Miami is for his designs located in the development called Aqua.  Aqua is located in Miami Beach, consisting of luxurious condo’s made possible by Craig Robbins.  The eponymously named Gorlin Building is one of the mid rises found on the island that helps frame the views of the surrounding waterways.  The entire interview is held in Gorlin’s apartment.  Most recently, Gorlin has been designing prefabricated affordable housing in Brooklyn and just last year served as a visiting lecturer at the University of Miami School of Architecture.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

LANDMARK COMPETITION UPDATE – SITE MAP/LOGO

landmark miami logo

We have been able to secure a scaled version of the Bayfront Area.  Please click on the following link to download a PDF copy or visit our competition section:   Site / Park Layout

Above is the logo to be used in all competition boards.  The competition brief has been updated, showing the exact placement of where the logo needs to go along with your registration number.  Please visit the competition section for updates.

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

DESIGN BUILD UPDATE – PROGRESS PHOTOS

Here are some behind the scenes look at the Design / Build winners small scale mock up. Manuel and Jacob hard at work with their crew.

photo 4 photo 1 photo 2 photo 3

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Design Build Finalists Recap 2: Rachel Dickey, April Tann, Keith Smith

39792_PRESENTATION1

39792_PRESENTATION2
By ways of Atlanta comes this entry, submitted by a trio of designers: Rachel Dickey, April Tann, and Keith Smith.  All three designers share a similar educational background, holding degrees from the Georgia Tech School of Architecture.  As shown by the drawings above, the team is well versed in construction and technology, particularly in the realm of digital fabrication.  Their reputation as designers and fabricators have won them various awards, and they have also shown their work at The Museum of Design Atlanta, and the regional AIA convention in Greenville.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Building Bacardi at the Coral Gables Museum

Our new competition, LANDMARK MIAMI, is about finding the new iconic symbol for the city of Miami.  In no way do we wish to replace our local landmarks, but instead compliment them by adding a new one.  It will be interesting to see what types of designs are presented that are based on capturing what Miami is about today.  One of our older landmarks, The Bacardi Building, is the subject of an exhibit at the Coral Gables Museum.  Recently, the building was purchased by the non-profit The National YoungArts Foundation for their new headquarters. I went to the museum this past Friday to gain more insight on the building itself, and was pleasantly surprised that the exhibit covers much more than that.
Leading the tour was the curator of the show is Allan Shulman FAIA, a prominent Miami architect who is also a professor of architecture and president of the AIA Miami chapter.  Shulman, who is also one of our jury members for LANDMARK MIAMI, spoke eloquently about the Bacardi company’s history through an architectural perspective.  There are many drawings, and photographs of proposed and realized buildings for the company and it’s patrons.  The works of Phillip Johnson, Felix Candela, Mies Van der Rohe and other notable architects are spread out through the Museum’s grand exhibiton hall.  It was interesting to note how the styles of the time  (1930′s-1960′s) and vision of the company’s executives influenced the design of many of the buildings throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.  Also included in the exhibit are 3D printed replicas of bottling factories, houses, and other buildings that compliment the architect drawings on the walls.  The exhibit lasts until February 17th, so there’s still time to see it.  Here is the information on the exhibit from the museum:Building Bacardi:

Building Bacardi: Architecture, Art & Identity tells the story of a company’s extraordinary development over a century and a half through the lens of the architecture and art it has commissioned and championed. Founded in Santiago de Cuba in 1862, Bacardi rose from simple beginnings as a regional rum distiller to become a global industry. By the early 20th century, as it acquired wealth and prestige during the consolidation of the Cuban Republic, the company began to attach symbolic and cultural importance to its building activity. Bacardi commissioned major works that reinforced its identity as an iconic Cuban brand and nurtured an emergent position as a serious patron of the arts. The 1930 Edificio Bacardi, an Art Deco tower in the heart of the Cuban capital, was an important marker of this early patronage. Over the next 50 years, as the company accelerated its expansion, both in Cuba and overseas, Bacardi deployed a remarkable range of architectural and artistic strategies to establish itself as a modern multinational corporation.”

Below are some images taken from Friday’s event.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

DAWNTOWN 2013 COMPETITION NOW OPEN!

 DOWNLOAD LANDMARK COMPETITION BRIEF HERE

LANDMARK MIAMI POSTER

 

Just when you thought the Design/Build competition was coming to a close, low and behold we have another one for everyone out there.  DawnTown is happy to present the open ideas competition for 2013, LANDMARK MIAMI!  We are switching gears back to our traditional architecture ideas competitions that we have held in the past.  Landmark Miami is open to all architects and designers, both students and professionals may participate.

As you have probably guessed by the eponymous title, this year’s subject will be Landmarks.  Miami already has it’s fair share of local landmarks (The Miami Marine Stadium,The Freedom Tower, The Bacardi Building, etc..), but these buildings were built in a different time, when Miami hadn’t experienced the booming growth of today.  This competition seeks design proposals that can capture what this city is about today and what it holds for the future.  We ask designers the question, what kind of  iconic piece of architecture can you design that will be Miami’s new symbol for future generations?

GOOD LUCK!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Design Build Finalists Recap 1: NC-Office

As promised, we stated that we would be showing off the work of the 16 finalists that competed in our inaugural DawnTown Design Build Competition.  We would like to start with local Miami firm, NC-Office.

The young firm is made up of four architects: Nikolay Nedev, Elizabeth Cardona, Peter Nedev, and Cristina Canton.  No stranger to competitions, members of the team have participated and placed in several competitions, receiving awards from such organizations as The Van Alen Institute, The Boston Society of Architects, and the American Institute of Architects.  In 2010, NC-Office was the first Miami architect team to place in any of DawnTown’s competitions, receiving an honorable mention for their proposal entitled “Large Roof”.  Before entering this year’s design build competition, the team already had two similar projects lined up: The first one involved them being selected as one of the ten Wolfsonian Visionaries where they had to create an installation using lighting techniques for the Wolfsonian-Florida International University Museum, while the second is to create a new bench type for the Coral Gables Museum.  Outside of these projects, NC-Office has worked on a variety of buildings from commercial to residential both locally and aboard.  Below is their competition boards:

Horizon by NC-Office

Horizon by NC-Office

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Every minute counts

At HistoryMiami At HistoryMiami

Wasting no time, Manuel flew into Miami earlier this week to meet with Jacob and inspect the lobby of HistoryMiami in preparation for the installation of their winning entry.  The team is currently organizing volunteers and rounding up materials to begin the construction phase.  Members of the museum’s staff, Joanne Hyppolite and Steve Little were on hand to hear out the details of the project for the first time.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

DAWNTOWN DESIGN BUILD WINNING ENTRY

Clavel-Brillhart

95190_PRESENTATION_BOARD_2

In the last four years, DawnTown’s annual ideas competitions have attracted designers from around the world to present new and creative possibilities for Miami. Now in its fifth year, one design team will be turning their idea into a reality thanks to the DawnTown Design/Build competition. Over 110 teams made up of architects, artists, landscape designers, engineers and others, submitted portfolios from around the world to compete in the creation of a low cost, temporary installation on the topic of Evolution in Miami. Only 16 teams were announced as finalists, each presenting their own interpretation of the main topic. The international collaboration between Manuel Clavel-Rojo (Murcia, Spain) and Jacob Brillhart (Miami, FL) has been tasked to present their design to the public in the next 30 days.

Up-Downtown is the title of the project, which Rojo defines as a metaphor for Miami, “A city is a complex machine, where everything is interconnected and any movement affects the other.” This concept is taken literally to present an interactive story of Miami’s rise. Miami is not a city that has developed steadily over time, but instead has had rapid growth spurts in generally short periods. The most interesting thing about Up-Downtown is how that intelligently that fact has been captured.

The installation is a 10’ x 10’ x 10’ box structure using steel for supports. A mirror sits at its base, with blue and pink neon lights representing the water’s edge and roadways, creating a perimeter of the downtown area. Through an analysis of building footprints and roadways, the design team created a system of wires that map out important buildings from Miami’s past, present, and future above the base. The wires are then assembled into a system of counterweights and pulleys which link to different flat planes that sit on top of the bed of wires. Once assembled, participants can interact with the installation by pulling on different wires, watching these flat planes extrude and form the outline of the different high rises around downtown Miami. Rojo goes on to state that “downtown needed people to become what it is now”, and without the interaction the installation lays dormant, waiting to be explored. The design is very clever, as it holds a didactic quality that can appeal to adults and children alike.

The installation will be setup at HistoryMiami in early March, and taken down in May, with the possibility of traveling to different sites in and around the city. The grand opening celebration will be announced through DawnTown’s and HistoryMiami’s respective websites and social media outlets. The DawnTown Design Build Competition is made possible by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, HisotryMiami, and the Miami Downtown Development Authority

We would like to thank all the finalists for submitting excellent work.  The jury was one of the longer juries we had ever had and there was much debate over the projects.  As we stated before, the competition did have a “winner-take-all” prize and originally we were not going to award any other mentions.  However, we have decided to take the time and give special distinction  ( Honorable Mention ) out of the field of 16.  We were very impressed with the Los Angeles based team known as SPORTS, consisting of Molly Hunker and Greg Corso.  Below is their entry.  We will be listing all the entries shortly online, and then on flickr.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

DAWNTOWN DESIGN BUILD: JURY DUTY

Even into the late hours of the evening, the jury diligently worked to find the winning entry for the inaugural Design/Build competition.  We would like to thank Dacra for hosting the jury well into the night.

Oh, and as far as the winner is concerned?  That will be announced shortly.


Photo by DawnTown Miami,  all rights reserved

Photo by DawnTown Miami, all rights reserved

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by DawnTown Miami,  all rights reserved

Photo by DawnTown Miami, all rights reserved

Photo by DawnTown Miami,  all rights reserved

Photo by DawnTown Miami, all rights reserved

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Haiti’s New Cathedral / Zaha’s New Building

Courtesy of  UN Photo/Marco Dormino. www.un.org/av/photo/

Courtesy of UN Photo/Marco Dormino. http://www.un.org/av/photo/

 

No, no, no, no, no.  Zaha is not building a new cathedral in Haiti so don’t let the title of this post confuse you.  Our friends at Archinect have posted not one, but TWO stories relating to Miami today, both originally reported by the Miami Herald.

The first comes from the international competition to create a new cathedral in Port-au-Prince.  Although not in Miami, the competition organizers and jurors met here to go over all the entries in a 2 day jury.  Such prominent Miamians involved in the jury were Dean Elizabeth Plater Zyberk of the University of Miami School of Architecture, and the Archbishop of Miami Thomas Wenski.  Money still needs to be raised for this project, to the tune of $40 million (the Herald reports that it costs $300,000 alone just to remove the ruins on the site!).  Hopefully, the competition will generate enough buzz and support to help fund the project.  For more information on the project click here to read the Miami Herald’s article.

Courtesy of ArchDaily

Courtesy of ArchDaily

 

The second talks about Zaha Hadid and how she will be adding her own stamp to the series of high rises fronting Biscayne Boulevard, commonly referred to as “The Biscayne Wall”.  The announcement comes after the shut down of one of the last gas stations in Downtown Miami, where Hadid will be placing her building.  This new addition to the Wall will front notable Starchitect projects such as The Perez Art Museum of Miami (Herzog deMeuron), The Philip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science (Grimshaw Architects), The American Airlines Arena (Arquitectonica), and it’s neighbor Ten Museum Park (Chad Oppenheim).  Welcome to the neighborhood Zaha Hadid.  For more information on this development click here to read the Miami Herald’s article.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Short film on 1111 Lincoln Road

Check out this great video found through Archinect on 1111 Lincoln Road, the parking lot/civic space/landmark found in Miami Beach designed by Herzog & deMeuron.

Video | Posted on by | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Add fashion design to Arquitectonica’s resume

 

They do buildings, landscape, interiors, and now clothing.  Arquitectonica is Miami’s signature architecture firm. They have a strong history in the community, and are large enough to rival some corporate firms without presenting themselves as a faceless company.  2012 saw them winning many local projects as the entry way to the Port of Miami, and Genting’s Resort World Miami.  However, the firm isn’t a stranger to change.  Within the last 10 years they’ve diversified themselves by creating Arquitectonica GEO, a landscape component within their own firm.  Fashion is now the latest venture.  Hopefully they will keep morphing and tackling other issues related to design.  Perhaps they’ll develop a Miami made car brand – Arquitectonica Motors?  Not flashy enough.  Arquitectonica Torque.  Now that’s more like it.

Enjoy the video by our friends at Archinect.  

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Miami Herald building loses the battle for historic preservation status

The Miami Herald Building - Photo Courtesy Phillip Pessar

The Miami Herald Building – Photo Courtesy Phillip Pessar
http://www.flickr.com/photos/southbeachcars/

The long debate and struggle over the designation of The Miami Herald building has ended.  For some preservationists in the community, the decision is unfortunately not in their favor.  A vote of 5-3 by Miami’s historic preservation board ruled against granting the Miami Modern building the much needed status to keep it safe from the wrecking ball.(click to read NBC 6′s full article).  The building is scheduled for a May demolition, while the newspaper is already in the process of making its way west to Doral where it will occupy the former HQ of the US Southern Command.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

More Murals for Miami

More murals like this one could be popping up soon in downtown. Courtesy of Miamism

More murals like this one could be popping up soon in downtown. Courtesy of Miamism

Image above is from Miamism

He can be loud, he can be in your face, but he tells it how it is.  There are many who might take offense to his style, but lets get something right: Brad Knoefler is passionate about Miami.  Recently, Knoefler was featured in The New Times as an “urban revivalist”.  I would have to call him an activist, simply because of the way he sparks interest in our urban center.   Some people may disagree and have their own opinions on him, but he has really challenged the way we look at our city.  He took a forgotten area in downtown and began to make a change in funding the Omni Park West Redevelopment.  Later he was one of the individuals to spearhead Grand Central Park: a large, temporary green space located deep within the urban core that has become a gathering space hosting concerts to Critical Mass meetups.  Now Brad wants to infuse art into the neighborhood.  By raising funds of $25,000, his goal is to bring in artists to beautify 10 buildings in the area.  Will it work?  It seemed to work out pretty well in Wynwood as the many of the murals can be seen clearly from the highway or by walking around on Second Saturdays.  The idea is a worthy effort and we are hopeful that it does work.  For the complete article on this project please visit the South Florida Business Journal.  

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Art Basel news, PopUp Restaurants

This article and image is courtesy of Design/Miami. For the actual article please visit their site by clicking here

The mouths at Design Miami/ are watering. Michael’s Genuine Food and Drink, by now a staple of the Design District, will be running a pop-up cafe during fair hours and dishing out a special menu of food and drink.

Established in 2006, Michael’s Genuine has prided itself on food that is “fresh, simple, and pure,” taking care to see that the entire process of making a meal – from harvesting to table – heeds these terms. Michael Schwartz, the James Beard Award-winning Chef and Owner, has created a restaurant that is renowned for its emphasis on ingredients and a pretense-free atmosphere.

The menu includes a roasted beet and orange salad, rock shrimp summer roll, and an “Ultimate Caprese Sandwich.” Select cheeses, soups, and deserts by Executive Pastry Chef Hedy Goldsmith are planned, along with Michael’s Genuine Home Brew beer and a selection of wines that include the acclaimed champagne house and Design Miami/ partner Perrier-Jouët. Several of the food items are available as “Grab and Go,” so you can catch that unmissable installation or Design Talk. Esteemed neighborhood coffee house Panther Coffee will also be serving its speciality, in-house roasted brew.

The cafe will be no simple cafe or cart: there are plans to create a space with the same iconic touches that have come to define the atmosphere at Michael’s Genuine Food and Drink. We are very pleased that a cornerstone of the Miami culinary scene will be serving at Design Miami/ 2012, and are sure you will be too.

20121205-110209.jpg

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Miami Community to support The Rockaways

 

The Rockaways is a popular beach area, and escape from the hustle and bustle of New York City. Located in Long Island, the area was devastated by Hurricane Sandy leaving many without power, still to this day.  Living in Miami, we are no strangers to hurricanes and the damage they bring so a group of locals are gathering together to raise funds for rebuilding efforts in the area.  Spearheading the charge is former DawnTown juror and landscape architect Walter Meyer.  Meyer, a native Miamian turned Brooklynite, has been rallying support from different places to help those in need.  From designing solar powered generators to distributing food, he and many volunteers have been instrumental in relief efforts.  We think it is a worthy cause too, which is why we’re breaking away from talking about Miami for once, to focus on this humanitarian effort.  So if you are in Miami, enjoy live music, and want to help a good cause, consider coming by tomorrow to attend this event.  DawnTown stands by to support the Rockaways!

For more info visit their facebook page: Now is the time

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Miami Marine Stadium news

20121123-110636.jpg

News from Friends of Miami Marine Stadium. Above is a rendering of a proposed Marine Stadium Maritime Center located just next to the stadium. Below is an article regarding the progress they are making in preserving the stadium itself. For more information please visit Marine Stadium

Under the terms of our Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Miami, we must establish,within six months, the “footprint” for the land required for the Marine Stadium Plan. First the Marine Stadium Steering Committee, which is appointed by the City Manager, will review it and make its recommendation. Then the plan must be approved by the Miami City Commission and the Miami Sports and Exhibition Authority (MSEA).

We have been meeting with the Steering Committee over the last six months, providing plans and documentation. While we had hoped to make our six month deadline, the Steering Committee has asked us for reformatted information and additional documentation.

In order to accommodate the request for additional work. Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff proposed legislation-which was approved by both the Miami City Commission and MSEA-to provide us with a three month extension.

Meanwhile, we are continuing work on other fronts. Both our Naming Rights Package and our Capital Plan Study are almost complete. We also continue our collaboration with the Natonal Trust For Historic Preservation to develop awareness and public programs that will support the Marine Stadium.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

COMPETITION UPDATE: Program brief has been distributed to finalists

Image 

For all DawnTown finalists, please check your emails as you have been sent the competition program brief that outlines all the details of the project (submission requirements, due dates, theme, etc…).   

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

COMPETITION UPDATE: And the finalists are…

The first phase of the DawnTown Design/Build Competition has ended.  With over 110 entries from around the world, the jury process was extremely difficult, as there were many great portfolios to choose from.  In the end, we settled on 16 teams to move on to the next round.  We thank all the competitors for taking the time to enter, and we will display everyone’s work here on our website and again on our flickr page at a later date.  Finalists will be receiving an email with the competition brief in the next 5 days.

In no particular order, I am proud to introduce to you the DawnTown Design/Build finalists:

1. Team: Seiji Anderson + Ben Schulte  
    Location:  New York City, NY

2. Team: Miki Iwasaki   
    Location:  San Diego, CA

3. Team: Gean Moreno  
    Location:  Miami, FL

4. Team: 24°Studio; Yashushi Ishida, Fumio Hirakawa, Marina Topunova
    Location:  Kobe, Japan

5. Team: MONAD Studio/estudi CV Opera Publica;
Eric Goldemberg, Veronica Zalcberg,   Cludio Vekstien
     Location:  Miami, FL / Buenos Aires, Argentina/ Phoenix, AZ

6. Team: SPORTS; Molly Hunker + Greg Corso 
    Location:  Los Angeles, CA

7. Team: NC-Office; Nikolay Nedev, Elizabeth Cardona, Peter Nedev, Cristina Canton
    Location:  Miami, FL

8. Team: Rael San Fratello; Virginia San Fratello + Ronald Rael
    Location:  Oakland, CA

9. Team:  Jennifer Bonner + Christian Stayner
    Location:  Atlanta, GA / Detriot, MI

10. Team:  Open Source Architecture; Chandler Aherns + Aaron Sprecher
    Location:  Montreal, QC Canada / Los Angeles, CA / Tel Aviv, Israel

11. Team: Gelpi Projects/Paleo Studio; Nick Gelpi
    Location:  Miami, FL

12. Team: Alessandro Console, Marcella Del Signore, Gina Oliva
    Location:  Rome, Italy / New Orleans, LA

13. Team:   EASTON+COMBS; Lonn Combs + Rona Easton
    Location:  New York City, NY

14. Team: Rachel Dickey
    Location:  Atlanta, GA

15. Team: Balmori Associates;
Diana Balmori, Javier Gonzalez, Campana, Mark Thomann, Theodore Hoerr,
Isabel Lezcano, Isabelle Desfoux
    Location:  New York City, NY

16. Team: Manuel Clavel Rojo + Jacob Brillhart
    Location:  Madrid, Spain / Miami, FL

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments