| 1111 Lincoln Road | |
|---|---|
| 1111 Lincoln Road at night.jpg | |
| General information | |
| Type | Parking garage |
| Location | 1111 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| Construction started | 2008 |
| Opening | 2010 |
| Cost | $65 million |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 7 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Herzog & de Meuron |
| Developer | Robert Wennett |
| Other information | |
| Seating capacity | 300 automobiles |
| Website | |
| www.1111lincolnroad.com | |
1111 Lincoln Road is a parking garage in the South Beach section of Miami Beach, Florida, that is designed by the internationally known Swiss architectural firm of Herzog & de Meuron. It is located at the western end of the Lincoln Road Mall at the intersection with Alton Road, and can house some 300 cars.[1] Since its opening in 2010, it has attracted considerable interest because its unique appearance is different from more traditional parking garage designs.
As Architectural Record has noted, "In the Pantheon of Building Types, the parking garage lurks somewhere in the vicinity of prisons and toll plazas."[1] The New York Times has labeled parking garages "the grim afterthought of American design".[2] But local developer Robert Wennett was determined to do something more, and interviewed ten well-known architects around the globe before choosing Herzog & de Meuron.[2][1] Construction began in 2008 and entailed closing the western end of Lincoln Road Mall.[3] The resulting structure cost $65 million to build.[2]
The design has been characterized as resembling a house of cards.[1] It is open-air structure with no exterior walls constructed around buttresses and cantilevers that features floor heights that vary from 8 to 34 feet.[1] Elevators and a central, winding staircase take drivers to and from their cars. A glassed-in high-fashion boutique sits on an edge of the fifth floor.[4][5] The parking garage features retail space at the street level, with tenants such as Maxposure Media Group, and is joined to another structure at the same address that serves as an office for SunTrust Banks.[4][1] Wennett has built a penthouse apartment for himself as part of a 18,000-square-foot (1,700 m2) space on the structure's roof that also features a pool and gardens with hanging vines.[5][4]
The garage has attracted architects and photographers to look at it.[2][4] It has achieved renown as a tourist attraction as well,[4] especially after it was featured on the front page of The New York Times in January 2011. Runners use it for exercise.[4] Those parking their cars often linger for the panoramic views it provides of the South Beach area, before going on their way (although acrophobics likely stay away from the edges).[4][2]
The seventh floor also serves as an event space. The garage has drawn requests for many types of events to be held there, including wine tastings, dinner parties, and yoga classes.[2] Weddings have been held there, with woman putting a drawing of the garage on her invitations.[2] It has also been the scene of extravagant, celebrity-filled parties, such as one Ferrari gave during Art Basel Miami Beach week where two dozen of the maker's automobiles ran up and down the garage's ramps.[5][6][7]
Since its opening, 1111 Lincoln Road has received very enthusiastic reviews.[8][5] The director of the Miami Beach's Wolfsonian Museum said that the structure "sets a new bar for what parking garages could and should be."[2] Architectural Record wrote that the designers managed to successfully relate the structure to the nearby surroundings, but more importantly, "are helping break the mold for the lowly parking garage, lifting it up out of its gloomy limbo into the light and air."[1] The Los Angeles Times referred to it as "stunning",[9] and the Associated Press wrote that it "has become a modern gateway to the see-and-be-seen cafe scene of Miami Beach's Lincoln Road."[4] It has also attracted considerable publicity.[10][5]
Some users have objected to the high price for parking at 1111 Lincoln Road, which can be up to four times greater than at other lots in the area.[2] (Conversely, drivers of luxury automobiles take pleasure in parking at 1111 to emphasize their status.[2]) Others have complained that the garage is not protected against South Florida's rainstorms well enough.[8] University of Miami film professor Lisa Gottlieb said that appreciation for the garage reflected poorly on Miami Beach itself: "It says something about the aesthetic down here. I guess this is what we bring to the table – a fancy parking garage."[2] In fact, the garage's appearance was a harbinger that the "starchitect" phenomenon was reaching the Miami area, with Frank Gehry's nearby New World Center following in 2011 and Herzog & de Meuron's new Miami Art Museum in the works as well.[10][11][9] Other new parking garages in South Beach have also tried to add design elements in the wake of the 1111 structure.[11]