Last month I spent a few days checking out the amazing architecture of Miami for an upcoming workshop Michael Muraz and I will be teaching in January. It’s been over 7 years since I’ve been here and that was a much different trip, girls weekend, not a whole lot of photography 😉
This time was all about exploring the city and scouting for January’s workshop. We covered a lot of ground over a long weekend. After an insanely early flight, we spent the day checking out the Miami Design District. Wow! What a great area. The buildings, the shopping – Dior, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, ya know, bargain shopping, lol. While I may not be partaking in shopping around here, there’s plenty to photograph.
We started with one of the largest 3D printed structures ever commissioned, Flotsam & Jetsam designed by SHoP Architects. It’s such a cool sculptural piece meant to resemble jellyfish. I’ll start with a kinda-wider shot for context.

 

Just across the street is, possibly, my favorite location of the weekend. Simply the facade of a parking garage. One side has these great cutouts in this golden hue. So much fun to play with the variations in light and texture.



Around the corner are the facades of all those high-end stores. First up, Tom Ford.

Louis Vuitton just across the street.

And Dior next door.

Not too far is Fly’s Eye Dome designed by R. Buckminster Fuller in 1965, it’s situated above a stairway to a parking garage. Stands the test of time well and is so fitting in this environment. This was shot from inside looking up. Next time I should probably get a shot from outside of the whole thing, huh?

A short walk away is Nuage Promenade, this sculptural metal structure with these fun blue & green tones against the grey steel.

Then onto this great curvy fence, Dash Fence. I kinda liked the smoothness and pristine quality of the fence contrasting with the somewhat crumbling wall behind it.

Then for a more detailed shot of that same fence + a little white balance altering to create this blue tone, which I clearly have a thing for.

Onto another high-end store, Rick Owens, with its very harsh, brutalist-like facade. Totally makes me think of medieval flails (had to google that one), you know, those balls with spikes on them.

Then the facade of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. More great geometry and reflective facade, which makes the light really beautiful. But, omg, does that make a very hot city even hotter!

We ended the day with some skyline views and a pretty sunset on Hobie Island.

See you here again in a few days with more from our second day of scouting! However, if you want to get straight to the photos, you can see them here. And to stay up to date on the workshop details, head over to Photography Unfolded and signup for the newsletter (you also get a free ebook on architectural abstracts that way 🙂 )