The Miami Design District, a neighborhood dedicated to innovative art and architecture, has commissioned The Museum Garage to be built as a part of Phase III of development. Curated by Terence Riley of K/R Architects, the garage will feature six different facades each designed by a different firm: Work Architecture Company (WORKac); J. Mayer H.; Clavel Arquitectos; Nicolas Buffe; K/R Architects; and Sagmeister & Walsh.
The facades will include a wall of recycled cars, a wall of traffic barriers repurposed as screens, a mural of cartoon characters mixed in with baroque details, a corner design of interlocking puzzle pieces, façade cutouts that serve as an “ant farm” which expose the activity inside, and a painting of a candle being burned at both ends.
Scheduled for completion this year, the garage will serve as a seven story mixed-use building with ground-floor retail and a garage for 800 vehicles.
Learn more about each of the facade designs after the break.
For their facade, New York City-based WORKac has designed a three foot deep spaces with a variety of program including a playground, a library, and a pop-up art space. The experience of the interior and exterior are exploited, and the everyday activity of walking past the building becomes an unexpected social interaction. It has been dubbed the “ant farm."
J. Mayer H., a Berlin based designer, created a series of interlocking volumes titled XOX. These volumes are painted with automotive paint striping and contain embedded lights. It connects to the ends of the garage’s facades, acting as a puzzle.
Clavel Arquitectos, located in Murcia and Miami, created a project inspired by the growth of urban life in Miami. Their façade, titled "Urban Jam," will recycle 45 old car bodies that have been coated in silver and gold. The result reads as a sculpture of cars caught in a "surreal vertical traffic jam."
Nicolas Buffe, of Tokyo and Paris, designed Serious Play, which incorporates notions of entertainment into the program of a parking structure. Inspired by platform video games, a unique series of cartoon characters combined with a display of baroque ornaments give a humanist notion of “serio ludere” or, serious play.
K/R Architects, of both New York and Miami, utilize reflective traffic barriers turned right side up to create brightly colored screens for their "Barricades" facade. Spread between the barriers are light fixtures, which both illuminate the façade at night, and spin on their axes when the wind blows.
Sagmeister & Walsh, New York based designers, have designed But I Only Want You, a mural depicting a candle burning at both ends. It can be seen as a message to live life to its fullest or, as a love that burns but is destined to come to an end.
