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Celebrating a Century of Art Deco

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Home to more than 800 Art Deco buildings, Miami’s glamorous South Beach is an architectural goldmine of 1930s pastel-colored gems. This year marks 100 years since the Art Deco architectural style was first developed, so as we start off 2020, we’re reflecting on some of our favorite iconic Art Deco style buildings. The famed architectural style has evolved since the 1920s, but continues to inspire designers, artists, and photographers today.
The city of Miami Beach celebrates Art Deco Weekend every year in January. In addition, there are weekly walking tours of the historic district for those interested.
Designed in 1939 by Henry Hohauser, credited as one of the principal architects behind the Deco styling of South Beach, The Webster is a classic example of Art Deco architecture in the area. The former hotel has been transformed into a high-end fashion boutique, but you can still admire the original polished terrazzo floors, gleaming staircases, and pastel-colored decor.

A much-loved icon of South Beach, The Breakwater Hotel was designed in 1936 by Yugoslavian architect Anton Skiskewicz, and sports clean, colorful lines and the archetypal symmetry emblematic of the Art Deco period. The 99-room boutique hotel was extensively renovated in 2011, restoring The Breakwater to its former glory.

Designed by architect RA Benjamin, the Colony Theatre opened its doors in 1935 as a Paramount cinema. Currently, it is one of the most fashionable performing arts venues in South Florida, hosting concerts, comedy acts, dance performances, operas, and film festivals. Showcasing bold lines and geometric patterns with neon lights and a pristine terrazzo floor, the building maintains all the integrity of its original Art Deco features.

The Cadillac Hotel, designed by Roy F. France, was constructed in the 1940s to resemble one of the brand’s premium motors, chrome center trim emblazoned with a glistening hood ornament. It stands proudly as one of the tallest Art Deco buildings on the beach. It is now owned by the Marriott hotel group, and was recently renovated, but it still retains its Art Deco charm, with terrazzo floors and palm-embossed ceiling adorning the lobby.

Berenblum Busch Architects Designs The New Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce

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Berenblum Busch Architects is designing the new Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce and County Office Building in Wynwood.  Developed by Moishe Mana, construction of the three-story, 35,410-square-foot building at 2900 NW Fifth Ave will begin this fall.
According to the firm’s Founding Principal Gustavo Berenblum, the building will include a ground floor café, retail and meeting spaces, and 6,800 square feet of ground-floor parking. The second floor will host offices for the chamber and county. The third floor will have additional offices as well as a 6,800-square-foot terrace facing south toward 29th Street.
The design of the building draws inspiration from Wynwood’s industrial nature, the mostly one-story warehouses that define the neighborhood’s character, along with the popular murals that have become a tourist destination.
Claudia Busch, BBA’s Founding Principal,  said “It’s an opportunity for the Puerto Rican community to have a place of its own. You already have many Puerto Rican institutions that are there contributing to the health of the local economy there.”
Construction is slated to begin in September. The chamber, currently at 3550 Biscayne Blvd., is expected to relocate by November 2021.
Developer Mana added  that the Wynwood neighborhood was one of the first areas settled by Puerto Rican immigrants who moved to Miami in the 1950s. “It’s important to have the chamber in Wynwood because we don’t want to lose this part of the community,” he said. “We want to keep the culture.”
For more information visit Miami Herald.

PCCSF’S DR. ALLAN GREISSMAN ON NATIONAL TV SHOW THE DOCTORS

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Inhaling helium may be a fun party trick, but the popular activity can have some serious consequences – it can even be deadly. A nine-year old PCCSF patient recently learned of the consequences firsthand.
Dr. Allan Greissman treated the patient after arriving at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital for a seizure. He joined the panels of experts from the national television show The Doctors to share her story, as well as the hidden dangers associated with inhaling helium. We’re happy to report that the patient made a full recovery.
Watch and learn more on TheDoctorsTV .

Miami Art Week 2019 Guide

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Design-lovers everywhere are in Miami for this year’s art week! Read about some of the latest must-see exhibitions and events:
CASACOR Miami — the architecture, interior and landscaping design exhibition in North America — returns for its third year at Miami’s $1.05 billion landmark, Brickell City Centre. In partnership with swire properties, presented by cosentino and with the global sponsorship of deca, the interior design exhibition will feature an international mix of 20 established and emerging interior designers, inspired by sustainability and the urban infrastructure of the city. Visitors will move from micro-environments to vignettes within a 25,000 square foot residential sales gallery. Visionaries, such as moniomi design, Allan Malouf, Pininfarina, Jesus Pacheco studio, edge collections, Alberto Salaberri, and Léo Shehtman return to CASACOR Miami. This year, the three-week exhibition continues to add new top-tier designers to its impressive roster, such as Ukraine’s rising design firm Yodezeen, and Sig Bergamin and Michelle Haim from design firm Fanny Haim & Associates. Open December 2 – 21, at 700 Brickell avenue.

Billionaire philanthropist, entrepreneur and contemporary art collector Jorge M. Pérez will unveil his highly anticipated experimental arts center, El Espacio 23, on December 2. Located in Miami’s emerging Allapattah neighborhood, El Espacio 23 will serve artists, curators, and the general public, with regular exhibitions, residencies and a variety of special projects. The space will house the Jorge M. Pérez collection, which is regarded as one of the world’s most extensive private holdings of contemporary art. El Espacio 23’s opening show, ‘time for change: art and social unrest in the Jorge M. Pérez collection’ features close to 100 works by over 80 global artists, and explores questions of identity, public unrest and marginalized peoples. Inaugural exhibition, open December 4, at 2270 NW 23rd street.

Commissioned by the city of Miami Beach, the monumental public installation by Argentinian artist Leandro Erlich ‘Order of Importance’ will be on view at Lincoln Road beachfront through December 15. It will be the largest public work by the artist to date. Open December 3 – 15, at Lincoln Road beachfront.

To inaugurate the opening of the newly-designed Raleigh Gardens, Michael Shvo and his partners today present an outdoor public exhibition of the work of the late Claude Lalanne (1924-2019) and François-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008) — the artistic duo known together as les Lalanne. The exhibition will be on public display in a new, immersive, lush, beach-side tropical garden designed by architect Peter Marino, and Miami landscape architect Raymond Jungles. Open November 22, 2019 through February 29, 2020, from 12pm to 8pm, at 1775 Collins Avenue.

Wynwood Walls, the famed epicenter of the Wynwood arts district known worldwide for its groundbreaking, ever-changing collection of curated art, will celebrate its 10-year anniversary this year. Goldman properties CEO Jessica Goldman Srebnick has selected a roster of global artists, both up-and-coming and established, to create new murals at the Wynwood Walls in time for the international art community to descend on Miami. This year’s artist line-up will feature Tats Crew, Hush, Mina Hamada, Kelsey Montague, Michael Vasquez, Dan Kitchener, Faile, Futura, Kenny Scarf, Ernesto Marange, Martha Cooper, Dasic Fernandez. At Wynwood Walls, 2520 NW 2nd Avenue.

For more events and information, visit designboom.

33rd annual Festival of the Trees

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Each year South Florida’s architecture and design community demonstrates its support for interior architecture education through their annual participation in Festival of the Trees, a fundraising event coordinated by Florida International University’s Interior Architecture Department.
Over the past 32 years, this annual holiday event has raised over $350,000 in funds that benefit FIU’s Interior Architecture Department and its students.
Sponsors underwrite designers who design and build unique holiday creations and donate them to the event. The “trees” are then displayed and auctioned at the gala opening. Winning bidders take these extraordinary creations home and get to show them off throughout the year.
Our President, Josh Oberhausen was selected as a judge at this year’s event, along with Hilda Altimari, Art Director of Dacra Miami Design District; Martin Amado, TV Personality; Massimo Casagrande, Director of Education at Marangoni Miami; and Liana Guilarte, Group Publisher for Modern Luxury. The event took place Thursday, November 21st, at The Moore Building in the Miami Design District.
Congratulations to the winners of the 33rd annual Festival of the Trees:
Most Colorful: “Candela” by AECOM
Most Animated: “It’s All Relative” by Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates, Inc.
Most Progressive: “Respirations” by FIU RDF Lab
Most Sustainable: “Cross-Cultural Headgear” by TSAO Design Group
Most Creative: “Layers Through Time” by G. Alvarez Studio, Inc.
Most Elegant: “Glitz” by HKS Architects, Inc.
Most Whimsical: “Hold My Memphis” by CallisonRTKL
Most Illuminating: “Depths of Deco” by Gresham, Smith, & Partners
Most Thematic: “Games Archiving Games” by OBM International
Honorable Mention (Creative): “Carousel Through Time” by Cube 3
Honorable Mention (Thematic): “Vessel” by Stantec
Honorable Mention (Colorful): “Copasetic” by Zyscovich Architects

MCAD’s BAM Program Helps Mom Start A New Career

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A program of Miami Center for Architecture and Design, Black Architects in the Making was launched by M.C. Harry & Associates to increase African American representation in architecture.

An architectural project manager at M.C. Harry & Associates, Naomi Harrison has already increased their representation through her mentorship of Bernise Muhammad, a BAM mom who went from being on the sidelines to now pursuing a career in architecture at Florida International University.

CBS 4 visited a recent BAM workshop where they learned more about Naomi and Bernise’s relationship and the work BAM is doing in the community.

A Miami woman is on a new career path in architecture thanks to a program designed for students.

Naomi Harrison is an architectural project manager at M C Harry & Associates, which created Black Architects in the Making, also known as BAM.

BAM was created to introduce and educate middle and high school students, primarily African American, to the world of architecture.

Harrison has been involved with BAM for several years, helping expose youngsters to architecture but also working to diversify the industry.

“One of the underrepresented in the industry is also females. 18-percent of architects are females but only .04-percent of the architects in the state identify as black female Americans,” explained Harrison.

Harrison along with other associates go into communities where African Americans live, work, and play and talk to them about architecture.

It was at one of the workshops where she met Bernise Muhammad, the parent of one of the students. For more information, visit CBS4

Lincoln Road Takes A Big Step

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Lincoln Road is home to our OBR headquarters, and we are excited about experiencing a revamp to the look and feel of South Beach’s iconic outdoor mall.

Recently, the City of Miami Beach announced plans to jump-start the first large-scale makeover of the walkway in more than 20 years, and according to reports, property owners agreed to tax themselves at a higher rate to pay for part of the ambitious plan to restore it. But who will cover the remaining cost?

The plans have been a long time coming. In 2014, the City hired James Corner Field Operations to draw up designs for a Lincoln Road makeover. His design includes a reorganization of café tables, new sculptural elements, and more public seating and green space – all much-needed improvements to Lincoln Road.

If the plan moves forward this time, there will also be a touched-up pattern on the ground running up the center of the walkway, reimagined planters, lights and public art. Although the proposal was halted in the planning stages for years, it looks like we’ll finally see some action, but who should cover the cost?

For more information, read the full story in The Miami Herald.

PCCSF Treats Baby With a Congenital Heart Disease

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Pediatric Critical Care of South Florida recently cared for Xander, a South Florida baby born with a congenital heart disease called critical aortic stenosis. PCCSF provided pre- and post-operative round-the-clock care ensuring that Xander’s condition remained stable before and after his heart transplant.

Pregnancy brings many wonderful moments: announcing the news to family and friends, baby showers, nesting and picking out cute outfits for the little one.

But for some couples, these happy moments are overshadowed by fear and uncertainty when they found out their baby faces a serious medical problem.

Alyssa Hopkins and Ray Nunez, of Boca Raton, was one such couple. They were happy to find out a son was on the way and the pregnancy seemed to be going well with the 20-week anatomic ultrasound appearing normal.

Though there was no indication of a problem, Hopkins decided to have another ultrasound at 34 weeks because “I was gigantic and thought he was going to come out 10 pounds. Little did I know at the time, it was a message from God because my results came back abnormal.”

To read the full article, visit the Sun Sentinel.

Choeff Levy Fischman Design Available for $25M Featured on Forbes

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https-blogs-images-forbes-com-amydobson-files-2019-02-bal-bay-drive-exterior-1200x798Imagine living in a brand-new, tri-level waterfront home with an open-concept floor plan, plenty of room for entertaining, and floor-to-ceiling expansive sliding glass doors with curtain wall windows to complete indoor-outdoor resort-style living. As featured on Forbes this month, take a tour of this newly listed dream home designed by award-winning architects at Choeff Levy Fischman!

There’s a new home overlooking Biscayne Bay that could become the highest priced single-family home in Bal Harbour if it sells for its $24.95 million asking price. Designed by team Choeff Levy Fischman—the same architects behind the ‘floating’ home of a certain famous rapper—this 8-bedroom, 9-bath house makes use of a similar architectural approach so that the whole home feels like it is floating both indoors and out. Bal Harbour is at the very northern tip of Miami Beach and has some of the highest priced real estate for the area.

To read more on this “floating” home visit Forbes.

Stantec Provides Integrated Architecture, Interior Design and Engineering Services for New YOTELPAD Miami

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Global design and engineering firm Stantec celebrated the ground breaking of the new YOTELPAD Miami, the latest high-rise located in the heart of Miami’s downtown urban core. Stantec is providing all-inclusive architecture, interior design and engineering services to the 31-story hotel/condo project by developers Aria Development Group and joint venture partner, AQARAT real estate company.

YOTELPAD Miami is a new brand by YOTEL and the first on the East Coast, featuring 222 Yotel-branded “cabins” (hotel rooms), 231 “PADs” (condominiums) and amenities such as a Skytop lounge, pool deck with restaurant and bar, fitness center, co-working space and pet spa.

The hotel portion, located on floors 2-12, includes 222 cabins. The ground level will include separate lobbies for guests and residences, a restaurant, lounge, an organic matcha bar plus a co-working space, and meeting rooms on the second level. There is also smart lockers for package deliveries, as well as bike and individual storage units for residents on the premises.

The condo PADs, encompassing levels 15-30, will have exclusive amenities such as a 2,000 square-foot “Lounge in the clouds” with game area and chef’s kitchen.  The high-tech units include studios to one- and two-bedrooms and range in size from 417 square feet to 708 square feet with top-of-the-line flooring and lighting, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, custom European cabinetry and Smeg brand Italian appliances.

Stantec is a recognized global leader in architecture, design and engineering, ranked among the top 10 architecture firms by Architectural Record and top 10 global design firms by Engineering News-Record. The firm has designed numerous prominent projects throughout Florida, including Solitair Brickell; Luma at Miami Worldcenter; Midtown 8 in Midtown Miami; 17 West in Miami Beach; and Park-Line in Miami and West Palm Beach.

YOTELPAD Miami is scheduled for completion in early 2021.