Re-Ligare institute, miami beach florida The Re-ligare Institute Wellness Center is situated right in the heart of downtown, Miami. Located directly across from the monumental Dade County Courthouse, the Re-ligare Wellness Center offers a relaxing retreat from the hustle of everyday life in the city. The twisting towers of the wellness center give visitors the feeling of spiraling up from the busyness of the city towards the most spiritual and sacred spaces where one can get in touch with their body, mind, and spirit. The shortest of the towers represents the mind: a place where one can be in deep thought learning in the classroom, doing work in the research laboratory, or reading in the library. The middle tower represents the body: trapped between the mind and the spirit, the body must exercise and release its excess stress in order to find complete serenity as a whole. Whether it is spinning or weight lifting, this is a place where one can drain them self of all the pressures of the surrounding environment. The tallest of the towers houses the sacred spaces as it spirals high into the heavens. Starting at the lowest level, one can participate in aquatic activities and start the quest to spiritual sanctity, as the visitor rises up they can participate in more calming activities such as yoga until they reach complete spiritual sanctity at the top in the meditation and worship area. All three towers are brought together by a long circulation bar which connects through short terraces just as the human being is connected through mind, body, spirit.
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sunset harbour hotel, miami beach florida
2 It’s hard to believe there was once a time when Miami was not an international destination for connoisseurs of high culture, fine food, and cutting-edge art. Yet, some 40 years ago bold leadership put a new face on South Beach’s Art Deco district, elevating the city to the world stage. Today, fashionistas and culture-vultures regularly fill Miami hotels as they stampede to such events as Art Basel Miami Beach or Frank Gehry’s recently opened New World Center performing arts venue. Located in Purdy Avenue, facing the Maurice Gibbs Memorial Park and the bay, the project consists of a Boutique Hotel that can offer its guests a special and unique experience different from that of many of the hotels found in Miami Beach. It comprises 15 rooms and 4 suites. The hotel includes amenities such as a complete spa and wellness center, three restaurants, a boutique store, and a rooftop deck with lounge areas and a swimming pool. Apart from the rooms, the hotel also offers 4 unique penthouses with their separate lobby and entrance but with access to all the other hotel amenities. The project also includes a remake of the park in order to be able to maximize its use and make it more pedestrian friendly. Designing a hotel in a narrow lot such as this can be fairly challenging. this narrow lot is located in Miami Beach across a park and marina that need to be incorporated without being drastically changed. The 25’ wide lots require careful design. The project will give the opportunity to explore different building typologies,
richter library expansion, coral gables florida The new Otto Richter Library Expansion focuses on creating spaces that mix the sensation of the outdoors and the indoors. By creating different terraces surrounding the inner program and by adapting a delicate glass skin that separates the exterior from the interior, this expansion produces rooms and spaces that are characterized by their open spacious feeling. By doing so, study rooms and other working areas become more pleasant and enjoyable, and encourage students to spend more time in it. Through an axial rotation of equally proportioned floor plans, what is a perfect order of mirrored program conveys a sense of dynamic movement on the different facades of the building. This, complemented by the long expanding overhangs and terraces, create a sense of motion of voids and solids that draw the observers’ attention to the building. To address the sun and heat intensity typical of Florida, the different overhang cast shadows while allowing light, that is later filtered by the clear intelligent glass to reduce the heat gain in the inside of the building. The building is located in Miller Drive, a street that has a monumental feeling but that was certainly not addressed by the buildings that it served. The street was renovated and transformed into a green walkway that will fit the voluminous pedestrian transit that uses it every day. The Richter Expansion will update the current building by addressing all the needs of a modern library, and it will do so by creating enjoyable and pleasing spaces for students.
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maritime museum, miami florida
4 the Maritime Museum is a project on Bicentennial Park in Miami, FL that would pay tribute to the rich maritime history of Miami. The museum needed to be able to fit Christopher Columbus’s Santa Maria and provide extra space to showcase the rich maritime history. By creating a facility that reflected both the dynamic movement of waves and the curved movement of a sail, a structure that wraps around a radius would serve efficiently expressing both its purpose and its function. By keeping a sense of transparency in between the interior and exterior, the museum will attract the public to research the contents of the interior. This museum will be set on water, and this together with its shape will complement the program and will provide a formidable structure and a monumental building. This building will complement both the old port slip, the interior of the park and Biscayne Boulevard. It will represent a new landmark that Floridians will be able to relate to.The total cost for this building is 49,448,082.8 dollars. Out of the total cost, 47,004,882.8 dollars are dedicated to the interior air-conditioned spaces. Then 2,443,200 dollars are needed for all the exterior terraces, walkways and accesses. The total square footage of the building is 157,857.16 square feet. Out of these, 108,999.16sqft belong to the interior air conditioned spaces and 48,858sqft to the exterior terraces and walkways. The circulation occupies 11,401.9sqft, which represent the 31% of the total square footage (including the entrance hall and lobby transitional area).
nantes masterplan, france
5 the Nantes Master Plan is a project done in collaboration with the School of Architecture of Nantes, France. gathering of information from the city and meeting with government officials, this project was done as a redevelopment of Nante’s old industrial area we realized the importance and the relevance that proportion and order place in the urban planning of a city. After thorough studying and analysis of the existing streets and conditions on the site , the first decision made was to create order on the site by superimposing a very rigid yet thoughtful classical block grid which connected respectfully to all of the surrounding areas and main roads as well as bridging the site to the Fishermen’s village across the river. The new axial star-shaped urban plan emphasizes the importance of unobstructed views and vistas throughout the site, creating multiple plazas and assisting pedestrians in way finding.Pedestrian paths on the new masterplan are not only important in the generous sidewalks, but are also carefully studied to penetrate into the blocks and in between the buildings creating a completely different adventure for pedestrians than people in vehicles. Many of the pedestrian paths within the blocks are old existing streets that will no longer be accessible for vehicles which helps maintain the existing infrastructure intact.The multiple sizes and unique features that every block has, provide various opportunities for developers to build and explore a wide range of typologies and uses unique to each block.
79th & biscayne, miami florida
6 Located in 79th Street and Biscayne Boulevard, the goal of the project was to create a new central focus or city center for the Upper East Side Commercial corridor. The project was done in collaboration with the real estate program of the University of Miami. The site is challenging as there are some historical buildings to be considered as well as financial considerations and assuring that this center is a beacon for the future development of the area. The urban plan had to be developed according to the specific numbers provided, everything from financial information to target demographics. Estimating the value of real property is important to a variety of endeavors, including real estate financing, listing real estate for sale, ,property insurance and the taxation of real estate. For most people, determining the asking or purchase price of a property is the most useful application of real estate valuation.The style was chosen to blend with the local MiMo and BiBo districts. In the project we would address the need for better office space, retail and residential units. Also create spaces for the community in order to unify them and give them a place to practice leisure activities. By creating new spaces such as parks, plazas and renovating old historic buildings, the project creates spaces for community activities such as farmer’s markets, food truck events between others. By bringing new space for retail and offices, you will also create new employment that will ensure that this up and coming community continues to grow.
Navy st park, brooklyn new york
8 Due to the rapid growth of urban communities, and the fast pace of modernization food demand has been at an all time high Rises the need for more sustainable and the Brooklyn center for urban farming provides the surrounding neighbors with a landmark that not only helps provide all their necessary organic produce but also provides them with a community center in which they are able to escape the noise and hassle of the busy urban life while learning hence making fusing the experience of this landmark into both educational and recreational. The project divides itself into an underground and an aboveground world. On the aboveground, you will find the new park, which will provide the surrounding community with a rich landscape that can adapt to different leisure activities that fast growing high-density cities such as Brooklyn need. The park uses rough and untreated materials such as wood decking, native vegetation, between other materials such as steal and glass making it highly sustainable and low maintenance. The surface of the park is divided into different clusters each catering to a different use with a different theme maintaining the used of the same materials through out, and smooth transition from space to space. Depending on the space’s use, the vegetation and landscaping will give a different feeling, making some areas more intimate and small in scale and others larger for a more public and collective use. Apart from this, landscaping will also serve as an important marker for the circulation of the park. Following the boardwalk, the trees and using the different sculptural circulation nodes will aid pedestrians to find the main entrances. The sculptural pieces hold the circulation cores leading to the underground world, varying in shape and scale depicting their importance and where they lead. The pieces are placed strategically on the site working hand in hand with the boardwalk pattern to help in guide the visitors to the different elements of the project. This project was an entry for the Center for Urban Farming by suckerPUNCH.