Architecture
Design Miami 2012 Highlights
The eighth edition of Design Miami/ saw record attendance and robust sales throughout its six-day run in Miami, Florida from December 4-9, 2012. Thirty-six of the world's leading galleries presented contemporary and historic design, which sold well among the 31,000 design collectors and enthusiasts who attended the fair.
Visitors to Design Miami/ were welcomed by Drift, a pavilion created by New York-based collaborative studio Snarkitecture. A floating environment comprised of massive inflatable tubes, Drift resembles a topographical landscape in suspension: an ascending mountain above and an excavated cavern below. The lightness of the floating tubes underscores the mass of the enormous installation, visible from a distance of several blocks. The cascading cylinders of Drift lift to create paths of circulation around hanging stalactite forms, providing visitors with a meandering gateway to the fair. Apertures in the canopy above frame views of the Miami sky and allow sunlight into the shaded pavilion. Filtered light passes between the tubes of the excavated cavern, creating a space at the confluence of interaction, conversation and contemplation.
DESIGN PERFORMANCE
Design Miami/ invited a select group of emerging and established designers to create live demonstrations illustrating how their work is made. Visitors were given a rare view into the designers’ workshops to understand the ingenuity that goes into the creation of beautiful objects. Belgian designer Maarten de Ceulaer was invited by Fendi to construct, “Transformations,” a project that responded to Fendi’s Modernist aesthetic and brand identity. What’s resulted is an inspired and playful space that straddles the lines of fixed, static objects and organic, moldable material.
Sources:
Design Miami/
designboom.com
Details.com
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
Maarten De Ceulaer
