Earlier this week I covered one of the areas we’ll be photographing during the January workshop in Miami. Today we’ll explore a couple more. First, a little stop in Miami Beach. No trip is complete without visiting a Frank Gehry design. The New World Center is a concert hall and clearly Gehry. While it wasn’t open when we stopped by, we hope to plan a visit inside for the workshop.



Just across the street is another favorite from the weekend. The new Miami Beach Convention Center designed by Arquitectonica. The combination of curves, lines and undulating pattern make for a lot of fun! And because it’s Florida, it’s hard to pass up including some Palm trees 😉

A more abstract take and liberty with the white balance again creating this blue hue.


The canopy on the front, with its glass underside, makes for even more options and dimension.


This next stop is a parking garage, 1111 Lincoln. Not certain this will be part of the workshop but its raw concrete and brutalist style are interesting. Plus, if you walk the stairway inside and make your way to the top there are all these plants growing from the rooftop.

Now, to downtown Miami and the Brickell District which is home to the city’s financial district. First stop, 500 Brickell. It’s colorful facade and geometric designs are certainly fun!

Another favorite from the day is the Brickell City Centre. I could spend hours photographing the ribbon-like rooftop canopy. So many variations you can come away with. Below are just a few, there are many more in the Flickr set at the end of the post.




Next door are the Solitair Brickell Apartments. Geometry abounds in this area! Fun play on the balconies as the rain began to come down.

After a short break and escape from the rain, the sun was shining again and we headed to another Arquitectonica design, the SLS Brickell Hotel & Residence. More sharp angles and geometry!


Then, to my surprise when I was editing, I noticed some of the balconies had pink on their undersides. I didn’t see this at all while I was shooting, either my eyes are failing me or the sun was just too bright. I choose to go with the latter explanation 😉 Either way, that was a fun surprise and feels very Florida-like!

About a block away is Colonnade Plaza. Nice mid-century modern design.

After another sweltering day we took the night off but returned the following evening for a skyline shot at Brickell Key. Initially distracted with these pretty clouds 🙂

But recovering in time for a nice skyline view with the harbor in the foreground.

I was pleasantly surprised by all the amazing architecture in Miami. While we did our research and knew there was some great stuff here, we found even more in our wanderings around the city. Definitely impressed with what’s going on here architecturally. Soon, a Zaha Hadid design will grace the skyline; you can see it on the right edge of the frame in the lead image of this post. It’s hard to get a good feel for it at this distance. It was well under construction while we were there, so no real opportunities to shoot it. However, it should be done in time for the January workshop. Super excited as I LOVE her designs!
You may notice all that Art Deco design Miami Beach is known for missing in these posts. There really is a lot of great architecture of this era here. But, in my opinion, not the most compelling to photograph in an abstract way. It’s worth a drive around Miami Beach to check it out, and if you get stuck in the most lengthy traffic jam of your life (like we did, seriously, like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Ever. Even in LA or Chicago!), you’ll have plenty of time to take it all in.
Stay tuned for workshop details & registration coming soon. In the meantime, you can see more from Miami here.