A Couple Days in Miami
We spent a couple days in Miami before departing on a Panama Canal cruise, Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. A first time Miami visit for me, two nights was not nearly enough! Here’s what we fit in.
Saved for a future visit - Miami Beach
Mr. C Miami - Coconut Grove
Architect: Arquitectonica
Opened in 2019
J. and I met friends in Coconut Grove for dinner on a Friday night and the area was quite lively with restaurants and shops. After dinner, our friends showed us some notable building projects around town. The above image of Mr. C, Miami hotel was taken from our uber window on the drive into town.
From the architect’s website:
Drawing inspiration from Italy’s iconic coastal style, Mr. C Miami – Coconut Grove offers breathtaking views of Biscayne Bay and the Coconut Grove skyline. The hotel is designed to be supported on sculptural stilts in the tree canopy of Coconut Grove and embraces the idea of the historic Stiltsville structures in Biscayne Bay that can be seen at a distance from the rooms and public spaces of the hotel.
Perez Art Museum Architect: Herzog and De Meuron Opened: 2013
I’m always up for a museum visit and thought J. would be interested in the Pérez Art Museum’s waterfront location.
I found the museum design to be open and inviting; a natural setting for the art. Below, an architectural model on display on the lower main level of the museum.
To reach the upper level of the museum, you step up through the auditorium rather than a typical staircase.
The gallery that overlooks the entrance features a window with built-in seating.
Museum seating holds a special interest for me and I was happy to try out the custom furniture shown below.
Frost Museum of Science, Miami
Architect: Grimshaw
2017
The Frost Museum of Science is a complex of four buildings with an open-armed stance facing the lawns of Maurice A. Ferré Park, Biscayne Bay, and downtown high-rises.
It’s located next to the Pérez Art Museum.
I found this description online:
Grimshaw gave the wings a unifying in-and-out pixel geometry texture that plays with daylight throughout the diurnal cycle, allowing the arc of the sun to animate the façade. This texture also connotes patterns within science, be they plant cells or code for computers or DNA.
We didn’t have time to go inside nor explore the different buildings.But I did manage to get a couple photos of the cool facade as we waited for our uber.
One Thousand Museum Zaha Hadid Architects Completed: 2020
I kept seeing this skyscraper from the freeway and caught more sightings up close.
Learned this online:
One Thousand Museum was Zaha Hadid's first residential tower in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the final projects designed by Hadid in her lifetime.
A notable feature of the building is its curving exoskeleton which allows the interior space to have fewer columns.
Featured on a PBS documentary called “Impossible Builds – The Scorpion Tower“, One Thousand Museum was described as “one of the most complex skyscrapers ever to make it off the drawing board”.
Brickell City Centre Architect: Arquitectonica Landscape Architect: ArquitectonicaGEO
Our first night in Miami we walked to dinner at a Cuban restaurant located in Brickell City Centre, a large mixed-use complex in downtown Miami.
Consisting of two residential high-rise towers, office buildings, a high-rise hotel, and an interconnected five-story shopping mall covering 9 acres, it is quite the lively place! There were throngs of people about for a weeknight. I can only imagine how busy it is on the weekend. Throughout dinner we could hear cars honking below.
The Underline
J and I took walks along the Underline, a 10-mile linear park and urban trail adorned with public art, stretching from Brickell to Dadeland.
I love spaces that transform the land beneath the transportation in a city. In this case, it turns the space beneath the Metrorail into a vibrant network of paths and parks. It was well-used by visitors and locals alike.
The first phase of The Underline, located in the Brickell area, was completed on February 26, 2021. The second phase, extending from Brickell to just south of Vizcaya station, opened on April 24, 2024. The third and final phase is scheduled for completion in 2026.