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Six design firms team up for this crazy parking garage facade in the Miami Design District

Six design firms team up for this crazy parking garage facade in the Miami Design District

The Miami Design District is renowned for its novel architectural and art scene, including many novel parking garages by top architects. In a sort of game of architectural one-upmanship, another parking garage is about to add a jolt of art by transforming its facade into a larger-than-life canvas.

The so-called Museum Garage will be clad with six radically different facades, all designed by different practices. Due for completion by the end of this year, the garage’s display was curated by Terence Riley of K/R Architects and will feature an eclectic mix of facade designs ranging from a wall of used cars, human-scale ant farm-esque cut-outs, and partially tessellating oversized corner detail.

The teams working on the designs include Sagmeister & Walsh; Work Architecture Company (WORKac); K/R Keenen Riley Architects; Clavel Arquitectos; J. Mayer H.; and Nicolas Buffe.

Together, these facades will be part of a seven story floor and retail space, with a garage (hence the name) being able to accommodate for 800 cars.

Clavel Arquitectos, based in Murcia and Miami, drew on the vicinity’s urban growth with the facade being named Urban Jam. Subsequently the design will feature 45 reused cars, all of which have been painted silver and gold.

New York–based WORKac incorporated what appears to be an enormous cut-out “ant farm” or a stylized “Rorschach Test” facade into the design for its program that includes a library, playground, and a pop-up art space.

Serious Play comes from Paris and Tokyo-based Nicolas Buffe. Taking inspiration from retro video games, cartoons fill the facade in juxtaposition with baroque decoration detailing.

From Berlin, J. Mayer H. introduced XOX, featuring an embedded lighting system. While sounding like a Miami club it is anything but and will probably be the only car part with tessellating corner components painted with car stripes in the area.

Also from New York are Sagmeister & WalshBut I Only Want You is a mural with burning candles at each ends implying that, despite being at at extremes, love can find a way.

Finally, curators K/R Architects, from New York and Miami, use mockup traffic barriers for the facade. Dispersed among the “barricades” are light fittings which will draw attention to the barriers at night, being able to spin with the wind.

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