Design Miami/ Highlights

Below we highlight a few of the designs found within the Design Miami/ tent occupying the parking lot of the Miami Beach Convention Center (the site of Art Basel – Miami Beach), and then we see what's unfolding at the Miami Design District in mainland Miami.

Thinning Ice
Jeanne Gang (Studio Gang Architects)

Swarovski has been involved with Design Miami/ almost since its inception, and for its ninth contribution the crystal company tapped Chicago's Jeanne Gang to create "an immersive experience [that] draws attention to the melting polar ice cap," per a statement from Swarovski. Gang collaborated with filmmaker and nature photographer James Balog, founder of the Extreme Ice Survey, which documents climate change progress via time-lapse cameras stationed in Greenland, Iceland, Antarctica and other icy locations.

Placed in the middle of the room-sized installation is Gang's glacier-like table that is punctured with voids – some of them lined with crystal – meant to evoke the meltwater thaw holes of thinning ice. Balog's photos and videos wrap the walls. Together the installation intends to spur revelers to consider the effects of receding ice sheets even as the temperature outside tops 80˚F (27˚C).

38 Beams
Olson Kundig Architects

Bringing what they call "a northwest sensibility to this international event," Olson Kundig Architects crafted the Collector's Lounge for Design Miami/ visitors by putting together exactly what the installation says: 38 mid-century glulam timbers. OKA's Alan Maskin designed the installation so the stacked walls define spaces for, well, lounging. But 38 Beams is also a venue for talks taking place during the five-day fair and the project Designing Miami: Celebrating Ten Years. A light-tube chandelier designed by LILIENTHAL|ZAMORA hovers over the 38 beams, its cool blue glow contrasting with the warmth of the wood.

Even as the beams were salvaged from a building in Los Angeles, they will find a use after Design Miami/ when they are donated to the University of Kansas's Studio 804 program for one of their design/build  projects.

Naihan Li
I AM A MONUMENT – CCTV

One of Design Miami/'s most arresting design pieces – and most expensive at USD$120,000 – is Chinese artist Naihan Li's wardrobe, a 1/100-scale wood model of OMA's CCTV Tower. The piece is the first contribution to the fair by Gallery ALL, which describes it as follows: "The CCTV Tower, shaped like a loop of video in endless production, has been turned into a wardrobe, where the ritual of dressing and undressing can also be said to be an endless loop."

While Design Miami/ wraps up in Miami Beach on 7 December, the creation of "a neighborhood dedicated to innovative fashion, design, architecture and dining experiences" is just hitting its stride in mainland Miami. The Miami Design District describes itself further as "embod[ying] a singular dedication to the unity of design, fashion, art and architecture, and a commitment to encourage a neighborhood comprised of creative experiences."

While the area's vision was developed by the neo-traditional planners Duany Plater-Zyberk, the participation of architects Walter Chatham, Hariri and Hariri, Juan Lezcano, Terence Riley (K/R), and Alison Spear in the process appears to have pushed the architectural elements of the district to the modern and the avant-garde. This week saw the unveiling of one of R. Buckminster Fuller's domes and the completion of a façade designed by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto. Aranda/Lasch, K/R, Iwamoto Scott and Leong Leong are designing buildings that will join past contributions by Zaha Hadid and Marc Newson. These buildings, and the fashion and design wares within them, are surely meant to entice people to visit Miami for more than just five days in December.