[ Aranda Lasch ] Design Miami Temporary Structure

Design Miami 08: here are some photos of the Temporary Structure designed by New York architects Aranda\Lasch to house the Design Miami collectors’ fair that ended yesterday (Saturday).

See our earlier story for more info about the structure.

Photos are by James Harris.

earlier story

Design Miami 08: New York architects Aranda\Lasch have designed a temporary exhibition venue for this year’s Design Miami collectors’ fair.

The 4,000 square metre structure will house exhibitors at the show, held in the Miami Design District from 3-6 December.

Here’s some info from Design Miami:

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DESIGN MIAMI/ UNVEILS FURTHER DETAILS ON NEW TEMPORARY STRUCTURE

For the first time, Design Miami/, the pre-eminent internationalfair for limited edition design, has commissioned a new temporarystructure to house the main body of the show.

Created by emerging award-winning New York architectural practice,Aranda/Lasch, the 43,000 ft2 (4,000 m2) space is located at theintersection of NE 39th Street and 1st Court in Miami’s DesignDistrict. The commission marks a thrilling addition to the DesignMiami/ curatorial programme, underlining the show’s objective tounderscore the inseparable relationship between design and architecture.

“We’ve always staged Design Miami/ in wonderful historicalbuildings, such as the Moore Building in Miami and the Markthalle inBasel, but this year we decided to use our venue to make a boldarchitectural statement reflecting the future of design rather than thepast,” Ambra Medda, Design Miami’s Director explains. She adds, “We arevery excited to be able to collaborate with a young and innovativestudio that is not afraid to experiment and take risks. We see thisproject as the embodiment of today’s spirit, in which traditionalboundaries are becoming meaningless and creatives are working acrossthe disciplines of art, architecture and design. These ideas are alsoechoed inside the show, where we are seeing more limited edition designwork created by architects and more gallerists carrying architecturaldrawings and maquettes.”

“There were two key things we wanted to accomplish,” Ben Aranda ofAranda\Lasch explains of the final design. “We wanted to make theinterior ample and light-filled. When you’re exhibiting furniture anddesign objects, you need a taller, more spacious exhibition area thanwhen you’re hanging things on a wall. We are using a standard tentsystem but making modifications to accommodate the design show’s needs,and bringing in light in a way which is not normally done in thesestructures,” Aranda adds.

Another objective was to emphasize the fair’s presence in theneighborhood. Noting that a key element of Design Miami/ is itsexuberant outdoor nature, with fair-goers spilling onto the streets andenjoying the warm climate in December, Aranda\Lasch incorporated abreezeway around the perimeter of the structure, which, “creates asubtle transition between inside and outside and provides people aspace to hang-out.”

“One of the challenges of working with standard tent technology isthat it’s hard to create a ‘public’ building,” Aranda explains.“Traditionally, public buildings usually have staircases or loggiaswhere people can gather, but with a tent there’s just a vinyl wall,there’s no transition.” Aranda\Lasch’s breezeway is the solution tothis dilemma, situated behind a highly customized 30ft (approximately 9meters) tall façade. This stunning outer membrane features a cutpattern of translucent vinyl, which will create shadow patternsreminiscent of light coming through trees while at the same timeallowing a breeze to percolate. “We are deeply invested in exploringpattern as a way to open up design possibilities,” Aranda explains.

The natural theme continues inside with the Palm Court, a centralsection that is approximately 100ft long by 15ft wide (approximately 30by 4.5 meters), which will be the site for the Campana Brothers’Designer of the Year installation. The proportions and ceiling heighthave been specially calculated to allow room to accommodate a group ofpalm trees that already exist on the site.

“The ground seldom shifts within the tent industry because there areso many technical constraints. It’s very difficult to innovate,” Arandasays of the challenges in designing the structure. To realise theirvision, Aranda/Lasch closely collaborated with leading US tentmanufacturer, EventStar, which is based in Miami. Alain Perez,EventStar’s founder, explains; “The space required new engineering tomeet building permits while pushing things like spans and marrying allthe functional needs within the design.” One of these challenges was toaccommodate the height of the structure, which reaches 40ft (just over12 meters).

While Design Miami/ will continue to host Satellite Exhibitions andother events throughout the Design District this December, the newvenue will serve as the heart of the show, the centerpiece for theneighborhood during its annual celebration of cutting-edge art anddesign.