R&R and Construction Work

I know this may come as a shock to some, but I actually took a few days a week ago for a little vacation, a cruise that left Miami. As I had a late flight leaving Miami following the cruise, I indulged in a guided tour of South Beach and its striking art deco style. While Jerry, the charming tour guide, had plenty to say about the millionaires’ homes along the waterfront and stories about the area’s distinct deco style, I must confess that I was probably most interested in what he had to say about downtown Miami’s very vertical skyline.

Jerry lamented that many of the clubs for which South Beach is known have found new homes in the city’s downtown, as the district is being built up at a rapid pace. According to Jerry, the skyline shown below didn’t exist as much as ten years ago.



Now this was my first trip to Miami so I can’t vouch for that, but I can repeat the words of the taxi driver who brought me into town, that the city constantly “is just knocking down one thing to put up more condos.”

Evidence of construction was everywhere in the city, a startling contrast to the historical deco district which is fiercely protected by the city (according to the tour guide, you can’t remodel the historic building’s exteriors with colors and additions similar to the original style—it has to be exactly the same). Downtown was filled with cranes and scaffolding although, as the taxi driver pointed out, few tenants yet reside in the newest wave of condominiums.

The downtown district is slowly filling, though; according to Jerry, extensive public transportation systems have been constructed throughout downtown to account for the high increases in traffic in an urban area that never expected such high residential growth.


Taking a step back, as I gazed at the city’s skyline from the ship I thought to myself about how the buildings melded together nicely, seeming to confirm that they had all gone up within a comparable amount of time. But after the tour of South Beach, I could appreciate the influence of the deco design upon the urban architects, with the clean vertical lines repeated by interesting protrusions in the building’s otherwise flat profile. In the newer condos, some more contemporary elements had begun creeping in, such as the undulating glass balconies pictured at right.

Of course, I don’t need to point out the incredible use of glass, another “modern” element in this new downtown area.

It was pretty interesting to get a chance to see an area with so much evidence of glass going up, but I’d be curious to hear from you in the area as to whether this is a trend that’s continuing. And if one of these lovely buildings is a project on which you contributed, please speak up and let me know!