ArquitectonicaGEO - Brickell City Centre

One of the most interesting learning experiences for me was the offices of Arquitectonica in Coconut Grove.  At their offices, we learned about Brickell City Center, a mixed use development still in construction in downtown Miami at South Miami Avenue between sixth street and eighth street.  It will consist of 4.8 million square feet of use mixed development that will include retail, hotel, office and residential components. The developer is Swire Properties which is a British company with headquarters in Hong Kong.  

ArquitectonicaGEO is the group of engineers that designed the downtown streetscapes and outdoor/indoor landscaping to provide a natural pedestrian environment. The plants used are mostly native of South Florida however there are also and non-native plants.  The plants are used in social areas like the hotel pool, the retail gathering areas, green walls and small ponds.

It is the first major project under Miami 21 zoning plan, the project is seeking to be energy efficient and sustainable therefore it is looking forward to be LEED ND certified.  The project will feature a sophisticated sustainable roof called “the climate ribbon” which provides protection from south Florida weather, regulates air flow and will capture 5 million gallon of rain water annually.

Total project cost is 1.05 billion, total retail 565,000 square feet, Swire Hotel with 263 rooms, 89 serviced apartments, condominiums will entail 780 units in two towers and two mid-rise class A office towers of about 260,000 square feet.  It will also have a two level underground parking garage with 2,600 parking spaces. This project will create 3,700 jobs in the city.

The retail component will consist of luxury retail spaces like the Bal Habour Shops and will also be considered an urban center.  Transportation is a fundamental part of the project because it will have an onsite transfer to the metromover, proximity to public transportation network and easy access to the project by car, it is also close to major roadways such as I-95 and I-395.

I enjoyed learning about this site because I have seen its progress throughout the past year, it is been built at a tremendous speed and knowing what it is about has motivated me to learn even more about large development projects.