In 2020, ULI Southeast Florida/Caribbean named Miami Design District as one of its five finalists for ‘Project of the Year’, but, due to the pandemic, the ceremony was delayed. Two years on, our team joined Florida’s finest for the 2022 Vision Awards Ceremony to discover which of the five projects was named winner, and, much to our delight, Miami Design District secured the top spot!
The award was presented to our Vice President and Principal, Pinar Harris; Senior Associate, Seema Sethi; and Associate, Augusto Medina.
“Through careful curation, collaboration and a multi-phase design and development approach, Miami Design District set the tone for a vibrant community and reinvigorated the entire neighborhood. We couldn’t be more excited for Miami Design District to take home ‘Project of the Year’ for the 2020 ULI Vision Awards, the two years of anticipation only makes the result sweeter.”
Pinar Harris, Vice President and Principal.
In collaboration with Dacra, we created the architectural skeleton for the entirety of the 18-block, 2,699,095 square-foot Miami Design District, addressing building structure, overall identity, and the movement of people through newly created urban spaces as a multifaceted community experience. Without a traditional anchor, the project was designed with a sense of scale and a unique framework for the buildings. We worked side-by-side with a selection of fellow architects and designers to create the façade of each retail space per the specifications of each tenant, giving them the opportunity to express their brand’s identity through not only the interior design of their respective spaces but also by bringing their design to the face of their building.
Sustainably designed, Miami Design District is the first LEED Neighborhood Development Gold Certified project in Miami-Dade County and 33rd in the United States overall, with each buildings’ green roof providing a stunning aesthetic and thermal cooling.
We succeeded in ensuring the architecture and art of the project were harmoniously integrated and, in turn, supported the emergence of surrounding districts, reinvigorating the surrounding neighborhood as the cultural heartbeat of the city.
