1111 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach 33139

Thank you Architectural Theory Blog. I didn’t realize that the Herzog & de Meuron building on Miami Beach under construction I had been anticipating (since I saw the sign when I visited in July) was not only complete (this year), but that I had been inside! Multiple times. After chuckling alone and rolling my eyes, I’ve accepted my ignorance and gotten over it.

So this building, at the corner of Lincoln Road and Alton Drive, is a huge addition to the Suntrust Bank Building on the east side of the block. It’s a mixed use program of primarily a parking garage, with retail on the ground floor, a couple residences, and a restaurant on the top floor.

Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron were commissioned by local Miami Beach resident Robert Wennett, a developer focused on urban development through progressive design whose projects can be found all over the US from NY’s meat packing district to Alexandria, Virginia. (Rainey).

The project consists of eight levels at varying heights depending on function. The structure is basically reinforced concrete slabs and columns. The columns taper up and down at varying widths and degrees. I have difficulty out-right praising the project, so I’ll borrow a paragraph from an article last Sunday (March 28, 2010) by Journalist Rowan Moore of The Observer,

“What sets it apart from other car parks is that it is designed as a series of spaces, rather than as a stacking system. Some of the decks have extravagantly high ceilings and some overlook others from mezzanines and balconies. The ramps sweep and splendid views of the city unfurl. Syncopations of high and low decks, and of pillars shaped like Vs, triangles and trapeziums, are set up. There is a nervous energy and, in the thin leading edges of the decks, delicacy.”

The project was designed conjunction with local landscape architects Raymond Jungle who did the pedestrian road/garden adjacent to the building along Lincoln. It consists of three water features, plants, and sculptures all tied together with bold stripes of black and white in the paving. (Mizrahi).

What you don’t read about, but what I have discovered, is that there are essentially two ElevenEleven’s on Lincoln Road. The ‘old’ Suntrust Bank Office Building and the ‘new’ sleek-hip-cool-sexy Herzog & de Meuron multi-use parking garage. They are attached and share the same address, but have separate entrances and styles and insides and outsides. So it’s not crazy that on my hunt for the fifth floor in 1111 Lincoln Road, I found myself in an empty, bright, open-air parking garage instead of low-ceiling 1960’s office building fifth floor next door. (‘Old’ 1111’s entrance is on the north side of the building. You have to pass through an open-air corridor in ‘new’ 1111 to access it.)

The parking garage feels light, airy, and open. What makes it achieve these qualities is change in ceiling heights, like on the second and fifth floors, where the ceilings soar allowing light to pour deep into the building. The high ceilings make it vary un-parking-garage-y since they are a luxury and expense never afforded in this type of economic structure. The other thing that helps make the building so airy is that the railings are thin steel cable wires, that seem to disappear. The frequency and unique shapes of the columns enable the floor slabs to be thinner instead of the more common bulky precast forms characteristic of parking garages.

The central staircase/space is great too. It doesn’t make me loose my breath or thank god I’m there, but it does help open up the few low-ceiling levels and visually tie all the levels together, like monumental, grande central staircases do often do as a gesture found in a lot of public buildings (like the headquarters public Library in Austin features stairs). The thin floor slabs are cut in different ways at different points to engage and invite people to take the stairs and experience the building from different, changing views on the inside.

Something I found interesting with this particular building is the fact that it didn’t scream Herzog & de Meuron at me like many of their other buildings do. I feel like cool ‘skins’ are something that defines their work, like the Dominus Winery, De Young Museum, Walker Art Center (which I suspected was them before knowing it indeed was), or infamous Bird’s Nest of the Olympics. They wrap everything up—except this garage. The architects say they took clues from Miami Beach’s unique style and attitude, so the building is “all muscle without cloth.” (1111).

Frankly, I think it’s more of a skeleton than muscle (not that that’s a bad thing). I also like the building, but don’t love it. It’s one of those things that even though I may not love it, I’m appreciative that it exists and is there because it does make the Beach more interesting/intriguing/vibrant/chic. I like that it seeks to elevate expectations and change perceptions of space and program. It’s noticeable and makes people look twice. I like that it’s there.

And as for the pedestrian part of the new construction, the Raymond Jungle contribution, I like parts of it. I like what they did with the paving: the little pieces of black and white stone laid in fat, uneven stripes perpendicular to the walker. But I think the water features are underwhelming; they seem dirty. And it isn’t green enough (maybe this criticism is pre-emptive because all the plants need time to grow up and get green!) but it seems a little barren. Compared to the rest of Lincoln Road, this space seems a little lost, scale-wise. It’s grappling with huge buildings on all sides, less plant life in the middle, and dominant paving—but with some use and time and adaptations, I think it’ll grow into its own and fit into the rest of Lincoln Road Mall.

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Works Cited:

1111 Lincoln Road. http://www.1111lincolnroad.com/flash.html.

Mizrahi, Adam. "Herzog & DeMeuron Building Nearing Completion in Miami Beach."
        Urban City Architecture. 6 October 2009. 4 April 2010   
        http://www.urbancityarch.com/2009/10/herzog-near-completion/.

Rainey, Tiffany. "Robert Wennett: A Miami Beach Developer Looks to Switzerland
         With an Eye Toward Architecture, and Art." Art Basel Miami 2006.
         http://www.miamisunpost.com/2006%20Art%20Basel/robertwennett.htm.