miami panorama
MEDITERRANEAN IN THE ATLANTIC
This journey through the urban planning of the capital of the "Sunny State", as Florida is known, can begin with a visit to one of the conch house , wooden houses inspired by the typical architecture of the Bahamas Islands, where those who introduced the style in Florida in the first decade of the 20th century came from. The two most representative Mariah BrownHouse Y Stirrup House , are around Charles Avenue, in Coconut Grove.
Also considered as popular architecture of Miami is The Barnacle , Ralph Munroe's house facing the bay. The Barnacle is part of the heritage protected by the State of Florida and can be visited with a collection of decorative arts from the 19th century and some of the first technological objects. The same protection is enjoyed by Cape Florida Light , the beautiful engineering work built in 1825 in Key Biscayne to guide the sailors around the coral reef.
Cape Florida Light, beautiful engineering work
Another very recognizable style in the Miami urban checkerboard is the so-called Mission , inspired by the old Spanish missions in California and Mexico. The most significant case is Plymouth Congregational Church , from 1917, built entirely by a single worker, the Spaniard Félix Rebom, who used only traditional tools to make the building look as old as the ones he was replicating. Even more related to Spain and equally outside its historical and geographical context is the Romanesque monastery of Sacramenia (Segovia).
It was bought in 1925 by the American newspaper magnate Hearst and taken to Brooklyn, disassembled and packed in 11,000 boxes , to be sold 26 years later to businessmen from Miami. Today it is open to visitors and religious and civil ceremonies are held. Paradoxically, the church of St. Bernard de Clairvaux, as it is now known, is the oldest building in all of North America. The Mediterranean, mainly Italy, Byzantium, southern Spain and France, is the source of inspiration for the current fashion trend from 1920: the Mediterranean revival or Pseudo-Mediterranean that sought to give the appearance of antiquity through the aging of materials and construction forms.
A Cistercian monastery in Miami
One of the pioneers of this style is Vizcaya Villa (1916; 3251 Miami Ave.), the mansion of millionaire farm machinery manufacturer James Deering. This mansion inspired by the Italian Renaissance is today a museum with decorative objects and works of art, as well as a beautiful romantic garden.
The Vizcaya museum is inspired by the Italian Renaissance
Icon of the Miami skyline is the Freedom Tower (1924; Biscayne Blvd. across from Bayside), also known as the Miami Daily News Tower , for being the headquarters of said newspaper. Inspired by the Giralda in Seville, the skyscraper has 17 floors and Moorish and Baroque influences.
In Coral Gables is another of the most interesting examples of the Mediterranean style. This is the ** Venetian Pool **, a scenic neo-Renaissance pool built in 1924 and in which movie stars such as Johnny Weissmuller and Esther Williams . Coinciding with the roaring 20's, the style is born art deco , which would arrive in the United States after the International Exhibition of Modern Industry and Decorative Arts in Paris in 1925 as a replica of the European in color key.
To enjoy the clean lines of this optimistic style, head to South Beach, Miami Beach's liveliest area. Only in ocean drive hundreds of buildings of great aesthetic quality can be counted, such as the Park Central Hotel or the Art Déco District Welcome Center.
Venetian Pool
POSTMODERNISM AND TECHNOLOGY
MiMo is the acronym for Miami Modern , the architectural style developed in the city after World War II. It is an evolution of Art Deco that continues betting on straight lines, geometric patterns combined with kidney and oval shapes, and sculptures and decorative panels with motifs related to the sea.
The best example of mimo style is the Bacardi Tower (2100, Biscayne Blvd.), all glass flanked by a mural of white and blue tiles, the work of the Brazilian artist Francisco Brennand that emulates Spanish art, to house the headquarters of the rum company. The greatest amount of this style can be found in the one baptized as The MiMo District either Biscayne Boulevard Historic District , where there is also the enormous Fontainebleau Hotel , a beautiful example of a futuristic building from the 1950s designed by Morris Lapidus, the Miami architect who contributed the most to this creative current.
a miami street
A decade younger is the Miami Maritime Stadium , erected in 1963 as Ralph Munroe Marine Stadium with a daring design by Hilario Candela, a young Cuban architect recently arrived in Miami. basically it is a covered grandstand with a concrete cantilever , The biggest in the world. After years abandoned, it is currently the protagonist of a campaign to save it from collapse.
From the 1980s, it is worth highlighting the contribution to the city of the study of Bernardo Fort-Brescia, Architectural, to the postmodern movement. Their atlantis building , an apartment block located in the Brickell area, has become one of the most modern Miami icons since its construction in 1982.
Miami Skyline: More Than Sunny Architecture
The building of Bank of America (1987), signed by the American of Chinese origin I.M. Pei , and located in the same area, is also another landmark to take into account, with its 46 floors that are lit up at night according to the season of the year.
More recent is another skyscraper that has received excellent reviews from the American Institute of Architects, the Espirito Santo Square . Its 36 floors house luxury apartments and offices in the cosmopolitan Brickell Avenue , which bears the signature of the study of New York KPF . A huge concave arch, as tall as the building, welcomes visitors and tenants, symbolizing the door to Latin America.
Miami's famous neon lights
The last two jewels of contemporary architecture to plant their foundations in the city come from the hands of the Swiss Herzog & de Meuron and Frank O. Gehry . The 1111 Lincoln Road , of the Swiss team is probably the most beautiful car park in the world. Much slimmer than the buildings that surround it in the Miami Beach environment and with a diaphanous structure, the Helvetians achieve a transparent building, which is especially beautiful at night. The car park services a shopping centre, an apartment block and a bank.
The building proposed by the **American Gehry is the New World Center**, an auditorium inaugurated in 2011 specially adapted to the needs of the New World Symphony, a school orchestra created in Miami in the 1980s to train the best instrumentalists, a step prior to their leap to the most important professional orchestras. Gehry's proposal breaks the usual trend by incorporating state-of-the-art technology on stage in order to create an enveloping atmosphere through huge screens that show images that complement the music. Here's a breakdown of the season's schedule, including wallcast , free concerts projected on the screens outside the building, attended by hundreds of people equipped with chairs or picnic blankets to dine while listening to classical music.
New World Center, auditorium designed by Gehry