Miami Design District - City View Garage

IwamotoScott was commissioned by Dacra and LVMH Real estate to design the Eastern end of the City View Garage in Miami's Design District (Western end by Leong Leong. and middle Public Art segment by John Baldessari). Sited along the edge of the Design District adjacent to I195, the building's facade has a strong presence from the freeway, and thus acts as a kind of billboard for the Design District. The main body of the building is a parking structure above a level of retail storefront and includes a small six story office block. IwamotoScott's portion of the facade wraps around the main corner of the garage and encompasses an elevator lobby, exterior stair and the office block. The client brief requested avoiding the need for mechanical ventilation for the parking structure. As such, our design employs a digitally-fabricated modulated metal screen whose folded aluminum modules of varying apertures yield a total porosity that allows for natural ventilation. A gradient coloration pattern reinforces the subtle gradation of five aperture sizes populating the metal screen. The screen is supported by a series of steel stanchions cantilevering up and down from the edges of the garage's concrete slabs. The supports are arrayed in a staggered pattern that allows the screen’s diamond apertures to be uninterrupted visually by the structure behind. The facade's array of faceted modules and support stanchions act together to form a modulated and gradated structural skin that changes with the light of day. The office facade is designed using a standard storefront system that is modulated with a gradient pattern of glass sizes. Working together, the design of the garage and office facades aim to rise to the occasion of the aesthetic ambitions set forth in the innovative redevelopment of Miami's Design District at large.