Is this the coolest parking garage?

Back to Lincoln Road in Miami Beach this mroning and we ended up parking at 1111 Lincoln Road Parking Garage. What a surprise. Everything about this inspiring structure of concrete and steel cables is outstanding. It's fascinating to see how great design tends to have universal appeal. The kids we had in the car were like 'wow, this is the prettiest parking garage!'

I was super curious to find out more about the project so, later in the day, I went online to find out it was designed by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog and de Meuron, This is the same firm behind the National Stadium at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, known as the 'Bird's Nest' and London's ultra-cool Tate Modern.

If it's possible to reconceptualize something as mundane as a parking garage and create something extraordinary, it's only proof how transformational architecture and design can be.

Next time I'm in Miami, I guess I'll need to rent a Tesla Roadster...

Miami's Design District

Last week-end, I went out to dinner with a friend who took me to the Sra.Martinez Restaurant in Miami's ultra cool Design District.





























We lived in the Miami area from 2000 to 2003 and at that time, the area north of midtown was pretty run down. I was amazed to see the transformation: art galleries, chic boutiques, renovated historic building housing an exciting gourmet scene, loads of people in the streets. Proof that, with the right planning and entrepreneurship, cities or degradated parts of town can morph in something amazing. What a refreshing makeover.

Click here to get more info on the place, in case you're heading to Miami anytime soon.

Starting 2010 designing our new house

It's always great to start a new year with a life-changing project.  In our case, 2010 will be the year we'll start building our dream urban house.  In the past months, I focused on selecting as many design references as possible, interviewed with a few architects (both some of the cool names here in São Paulo but also some of the up and coming young talents)  and discussed a lot about the brief with my wife Aline.  

In case you're also thinking of building a house one day, here are a few websites I've been reviewing that will probably get you inspired...

Dwell is one of my favorite magazines and their website has a nice section on houses with a slideshow feature.

The Cool Hunter is another great resource with projects from around the world...

Try also e-architect...

Tomorrow, we're going to our year-end retreat to an island close to Paraty, off the coast of Rio.  

All the best in 2010!

Inspiration from potato chips

My good friend Flavio Maria just sent me a link to a fun article from Fast Company on how Iraqi Architect Zaha Hadid's love for snacks may be inspiring her fantastic work.

As a fanatic potato chip marketer, I loved the article, which is also a great reminder how inspiration for great design can come from anywhere.

"The sandwich came with potato chips, and Hadid examined one, turning it in her fingers, which were long and tapered and ended in bright-red nails, before putting it into her mouth. The twisty geometry of an ordinary potato chip, to say nothing of the curves in modern cars and phones, is a reminder of how few buildings look as if they belonged in the digital world. Hadid is devoted to helping architecture catch up."

A Christmas gift to inspire me in 2009

This Christmas, my wife gave me the recently-published book Isay Weinfeld, written by Raul Barreneche, a compilation of the work of one of Brazil's most successful architects. I absolutely love architecture and in the years we lived in Connecticut, we fell in love with New England colonial homes. We lived in a dutch colonial that was built from an old barn with reclaimed wide plank flooring, old beams and a huge stone fireplace in the kitchen. We lived next to an adorable antique shop called The Red Petticoat, a place that was our initiation in early American antiques.

Now that we live in busy São Paulo, I'm getting into a more urban mode and my interest has shifted to contemporary architecture. I'm enjoying the aesthics of straight lines, the lofty feel of open spaces, and the generous use of glass that serves as an invitation to bring the outdoors in. Since we moved here, I have been attracted to Isay Weinfeld's work which can be seen in our favorite bookstore here called Livraria da Vila and in a charming local restaurant called Forneria San Paolo. The book focuses on the Architect's residential work. I was particularly happy to see that, although the houses he designs tend to be large, the book shows a specific project called Casa Cinza__ a smaller house but with the same dramatic sense of space and beautiful natural light found in his larger projects. Good news since we could never afford a large lot in the neighborhood we want.

If the perfect holiday gift is supposed to generate inspiration for the new year that is about to begin, I think my wife couldn't have chosed a more appropriate present.

Here are a few photos of Weinfeld houses featured in the book...

Making urban areas a little greener

Walking through Lausanne last week-end I saw a building with a green roof.  I didn't have my camera with me but I did find this photo of the building posted on Flickr by MisterMeta.  

It made me think of how metropolitan areas could do a better job creating incentives for those who create green roofs.  Researching the subject online I found out that in Germany it is a legal requirement to include green roofs on new flat-roofed buildings in order to compensate for plant life destroyed by construction.  More than the aesthetically-beautiful appeal, roofs with grass, bushes and trees can absorb up to 50% of storm water, reduce CO2 emissions, improve insulation and enhance biodiversity. 

One of the world's most amazing green roof buildings is the Acros Fukuoka located in Fukuoka City, Japan. Stunning garden terraces up to 60m from the ground with 35,000 plants representing 76 species.

In the same spirit, New York has a fantastic project of re-greening the High Line.  The High Line is an elevated railway that snakes around Manhattan's west side built during the Depression and has been abandoned for a few decades.  It is slowly being transformed into an urban walkway full of grassy paths, gardens and trees.  I read that the first section, from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street, is scheduled to open at the end of the year.  

Click here to read more on www.thehighline.org.  

With the expansion of urbanization, I hoping green roofs will eventually become a global movement.

Architectural Soul

Barcelona. Yesterday we started the day visiting Casa Battló, one of Antoni Gaudí's masterpieces. I never thought a building could evoke so many emotions. I was mesmerized by how the ocean was used as inspiration to the building's organic lines (there are no straight lines), the use of natural lighting, a revolutionary vent system for temperature control and how Gaudí dared to use forms and textures that had never been used in architecture before.

Today we continued to fall in love with his work, visiting Casa Milà (also known as La Pedrera), Parc Güell, Sagrada Família... the legacy of an architectural genius that is part of the very soul of Barcelona.





During the guided tour of Casa Milà, we learned how Gaudi's work has a close connection to nature. The arches in the attic (seen in this picture)...






...were inspired by the bone structure of whales. The strong connection to the natural world is found in many details throughout his buildings. In one room, the ceiling resembled ripple effects, in another room, the ceiling had ondulations like wind blowing on a sand bank.

At Sagrada Família, some of the columns were designed to resemble the branches of a tree.

Gaudí once said:
"Everything comes from the great book of Nature."