If you were to stop anyone on streets throughout the Magic City and ask them their thoughts on Miami's traffic situation, you’re guaranteed to get an eye roll. However the one thing you don’t have to worry about in the Miami Design District is parking. Especially with the opening of Museum Garage.
As the name alludes, Museum Garage is a piece of art, seven stories high, has the capacity for 800 vehicles and features the work of five different world-class architects and designers.
Inspired by the surrealist parlor game, Exquisite Corpse, architect and curator Terence Riley oversaw the project. He drew upon Cadavre Exquis, a French game, which involves a collection of images assembled by various artists with no regard or knowledge of what the other artists have drawn, producing one image whose components don’t necessarily match but flow together as one playful composition.
Riley brought together four others including WORKac, J. Mayer H., Clavel Arquitectos, Nicolas Buffe in addition Riley’s own architectural firm K/R (Keenen/Riley) to play. They were each given a space to build out with no limits on what they could create, as long as it fit their dimenisons they were assigned. The result is exquisite, Exquisite Corpse that is.
Call it the most beuatiful form of multple personalities, Museum Garage’s five different facades fits perfectly into the neighborhood and each has custom lighting to enhance its uniqueness under the night sky.
From the corner of NE 1st Avenue and NE 41st Street and extending west onto 41st, you’ll find:
- “Ant Farm” by WORKac – Inspired by the shape of an ant colony, the structure features spaces that connect, yet appear and disappear behind a perforated metal screen. This façade also includes “Dippin," a street art panel by New York artist Jamian Juliano-Villani.
- “XOX (Hugs and Kisses)” by J.MAYER.H. – Gigantic interlocking puzzle pieces nestle at the corner with the forms of WORKac’s façade. “
- “Serious Play” by Nicolas Buffe – The actual entrance and exit to the parking garage this facade features a variety of diverse 2D and 3D elements crafted from laser-cut metals and fiber resin plastic.
- “Urban Jam” by Clavel Arquitectos – Fitting for a garage, this facade features shiney metalic gold and silver car bodies, to represent the revival of the Miami Design District and how spaces, like the cars, have been repurposed.
- “Barricades” by K/R – The design is inspired by orange- and white-striped traffic barriers that are ever present in Miami. The façade has fifteen “windows” framed in mirror stainless steel, through which concrete planters pop out above the sidewalk.
Museum Garage will not only serve as a parking structure, but the mixed-use space will welcome more retailers to the District. Parking at Museum Garage starts at $3.00 for every 4 hours and will open to the public in the next few weeks
For those wanting to learn more about the garage, a special panel featuring all of those involved with the project will be held on Tuesday, April 24 at ICA Miami. To RSVP visit here.
