INNOVATION DISTRICT

A collaboration between SHoP Architects and West 8, in partnership with developer Michael Simkins, “the district is conceived as an urban campus, an integrated complex of mutually-supportive programs including public amenities, targeted retail opportunities, indoor and outdoor spaces for community and campus gathering, performance and exhibition zones, offices, and a variety of housing,” according to SHoP Architects.

The new housing stock will include micro-units, “living spaces of 300 square feet or less that are designed specifically to meet the needs of young, creative urbanites who may currently be priced out of the competitive Miami market.”

The District’s design is vertically oriented with several distinct levels for specific uses, including the Commons level for public access and building entrances and the Horizon level, which includes green-roof spaces for outdoor events. Central in the planned development, the 630-foot Miami Innovation Tower will host standard office space, restaurants and observation decks. However, its most noteworthy feature is its “fully-integrated active skin,” an innovation promoted as the first in the world.

According to SHoP, “Unlike traditional billboard signage, the mesh-like messaging technologies are in fact integrated completely into the complex, pleated form of the tower’s exterior. The result is an ethereal, highly-transparent surface, open to the slender concrete tower core and views of the city and the sky beyond.”