Miami

A romanticized art deco heritage and ascendant hotel and culture scenes have merged to create America’s new design boomtown, raising Miami’s architectural profile with a clutch of noteworthy openings. The LEED-certified Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science by Grimshaw Architects opened with a planetarium, aquarium, and two exhibition wings on the edge of Biscayne Bay. Arquitectonica debuted Brickell City Centre, a mixed-use development whose retail, residential, and hotel elements are connected by Hugh Dutton’s “Climate Ribbon,” a glass-and-steel trellis that sustainably shades the outdoor shopping area. The Surf Club Four Seasons Hotel combined Russell Pancoast’s historic 1930 building and three gleaming towers by Richard Meier with interiors by French architect Joseph Dirand. And OMA’s Faena Forum delivered a new performing arts space to Miami Beach. On the horizon: an expansion to the Bass Museum—another Pancoast creation—by Arata Isozaki and David Gauld; striking residential towers in Coconut Grove by Bjarke Ingels and OMA; the David Rockwell–designed Brightline train, which will zip passengers from Miami to Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Orlando; and the Underline, a 10-mile urban trail beneath the Metrorail.

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