Architecture – The BIG BUBBLE Miami

Coconut Grove Midcentury with Contemporary Subtropical Makeover Wants $3.29M

This two-story, six bedroom, five bath, 5,267 square foot house on the border between Coconut Grove and Coral Gables was built in 1959 but remodeled in 2009 by a “world renowned architect” into the sleek, midcentury-mod-cum-contemporary subtropical courtyard house it is today. Who that architect is, the broker’s description doesn’t say, but it’s on the market for $3.29 million.

Check Out the University of Miami’s New Architecture Studio Building, by Arquitectonica

The newest addition to the cluster of buildings that comprise the University of Miami School of Architecture will be unveiled at a ceremony on November 29th. Designed by iconic Miami-based firm Arquitectonica, the new 20,000 square foot architecture studio building is named after Thomas P. Murphy Sr., father of the founder of the construction firm that built the project, Coastal Construction.

by Sean McCaughan

The History of Miami’s Margaret Pace Park, and the Interesting Buildings That Surround It

One of Miami’s liveliest public spaces is Margaret Pace Park, at the south end of Edgewater, one of the city’s most rapidly transforming neighborhoods. Lined with towering residential towers on the west, and the shimmering blue waters of Biscayne Bay on the east, the park is a favorite of neighborhood residents. The park features basketball, tennis, a large playground, volleyball, sweeping lawns, public art, and a meandering baywalk with spectacular views of the bay.

by Sean McCaughan

What Edgewater Could Have Been: Incredible Projects In and Around this Miami Neighborhood that Never Happened

In the past few decades, Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood has undergone a development boom of epic proportions. But for all of the projects that have been built, there are even more that never got off the ground, or were never finished. Here are some of the most interesting projects that could have made Edgewater a very different place.

by Sean McCaughan

Buy this Absolutely Baroque ‘Palm Beach Regency’ House for $8.75M

I would have liked to save the first Palm Beach Regency house to be featured on the Big Bubble for a perfect time capsule of that architectural style, a gracious flowering of subtropical neoclassicism that was extremely popular in Palm Beach in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s. However, this unrestrained expression of… well… something… makes this house one not to miss.

by Sean McCaughan

Architect Rene Gonzalez Explores the World That Surrounds Him With His First Monograph

Rene Gonzalez, a masterful architect based in Miami, recently published his first monograph, Not Lost in Translation. The book covers fourteen of his most significant completed projects. Two inserts explore some of Rene’s inspirations from Miami, with old photographs taken by the architect alongside essays by that great chronicler of architecture in Miami, Beth Dunlop. One is about Stiltsville, the community on stilts in the middle of Biscayne Bay, and the other explores Little Havana.

by Sean McCaughan

You Could Actually Live in This Historic Key West Church, on The Market for $2.599M

One of the things Key West is known for is its large collection of historic ‘conch’ houses that line the streets of the old, seafaring city, but what if you wanted a new island place that was just as historic but really stood out from the crowd? The old Saint Stephen AME Zion Church at 330 Julia Street, which was built in 1900 by freed slaves, has popped on the market for $2.599 million.

by Sean McCaughan

Inside Starchitect Rem Koolhaas’s Super-Luxury Coconut Grove Condo Towers

One of Miami’s most anticipated new residential projects, Park Grove, has been completed. Well, two thirds of it is done at least. Construction of Two Park Grove and Park Grove Club Residences has just wrapped up and been unveiled, while One Park Grove, the tower closest to the bay, remains under construction. It will be done next year.

by Sean McCaughan

Coral Gables Glass House is a Le Corbusier Dream for $1.78 Million

Listed just over a month ago for $1.78 million, this modernist house in Coral Gables embodies the ‘machine for living,’ minimalist, glass-on-white ethos of high modernism, with a Le Corbusian / Bauhausian aesthetic. Built in 1979, and designed by a “European architect” per the listing, it looks like something that could have just as easily been plucked out of late 1920s Germany.

by Sean McCaughan

The Miami of India: Art Deco in Mumbai

Did you know that Mumbai has the second largest number of surviving art deco buildings in the world after Miami? Nicknamed ‘Bombay Deco,’ Mumbai’s distinctive art deco architecture is a blend of art deco with traditional Indian motifs, creating a distinctive local style. An ensemble of Bombay Deco buildings was recently recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, on June 30th, 2018.