Brickell City Center and ArquitectonicaGEO

Our last site visit down in the Miami area was at the offices of ArquitectonicaGEO. Arquitectonica was founded in 1977 by Bernardo Fort-Brescia. The company is broken up into the architect side of development and the GEO division (which we visited) which focuses on landscape architecture revolving around green space and sustainable design. Every project and design that they create, they focus on the origination of Miami and its vast and plush forests, vegetation, and wildlife.

                The presentation given to us explained their massive project of Brickell City Center. The Brickell City Center is a billion dollar project located on 12 acres of land and focusing on a combination of retail, condo, hotel, and office space. The goals of Arquitectonica when being presented with this project was to combine the urban downtown design with green landscaping. With little to no room to worth with on the ground level, Arquitectonica had to be extremely creative.  Each entrance/street corner was uniquely designed to capture the use of the building while creating comfortable pathways, sidewalks, and seating areas. One interesting aspect of the design revolved around the large pipes that stuck out from the ground which were mandatory in order to prevent flooding in the area. These large pipes were seen as eye sores, until Arquitectonica came up with the idea of implementing artistic covers to these structures while allowing the flow of water (during a flood) to be dispersed as needed. It is creative thinking and design like this that helps dictate this firm from anyone else.

                As I mentioned, there was limited to no space for the required amount of trees and landscape on the ground level, Arquitectonica looked to the building itself. Understanding that their focus was on outdoor space, they were able to design amazing walking paths, pools, green space, and common areas for residents and guests on each of the rooftops throughout the development. The difficulty in this process is astronomical, yet with months and months of planning, they were able to meet all code requirements, and create a landscape plan unlike any other.

                What was interesting to me was not only their ability to continue to focus on the flow traffic (people) but also to guarantee that all view corridors from each hotel room, office, condo would be pleasing and natural. This entire process of enhancing the views of the residents and guests and creating an amenity on almost every rooftop helps create value within the property. Without a solid landscape plan, without the creative thought process of bringing nature onto the buildings themselves, the success of this development would be limited. This presentation was eye opening, and helped me understand the intricacies of creating a green environment in such an urban area (which relates to the goals and aspirations of the firm itself).