Museum Garage, Miami, United States | nicolasbuffe

Various architects are combining to work on different segments of a multi-coloured building envelope in Miami

J.MAYER.H has announced that construction of the parking loft in Miami, USA has begun.

The Miami Design District, a neighbourhood dedicated to innovative art, design and architecture, had commissioned The Museum Garage to be built as part of its Phase III development.

It is a sevenstory mixeduse structure with groundfloor retail and the capacity for 800 vehicles. Curated by Terence Riley of K/R (Keenen/Riley), the project will feature five dramatically different facades by WORKac, J.MAYER.H, Clavel Arquitectos, Nicolas Buffe and K/R (Keenen/Riley). The building will also feature a mural by Sagmeister & Walsh.

J.MAYER.H's design concept starts from two approaches. The idea of adjacencies and mediation translates the voids or negative spaces by WORKac on the left into positive volumetric echoes. The red and white striped traffic pattern of K/R Architects from the other far end of the garage facade finds referential graphics on J.MAYER.H's design. While the idea of puzzling and interlocking is shown in the relationship designed on the left side with WORKac, the right edge of the facade segment is cut off with a straight vertical line analogue to all the other segments of the overall facade. The facade will be built in steel and aluminium, and painted in different colours. It contains embedded lighting that glows at night.

Infrastructures and car spaces are rarely seen as architectural projects. In the context of the Design District, the 'Museum Garage' becomes an urban component including commercial space on street level. Cars and the speed with which they move through the city cause the urban dimensions for pedestrians to overlap with the perception of urban dimensionality. The facades of large building volumes in such an urban context demand variety and differentiation. The concept of various architects working on different segments of one building envelope is an exciting innovative design strategy to explore collaboration, adjacencies and cross-referencing.

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