t seems that every time we turn around, there’s another sky-scraping office building springing up in Downtown Miami. However, 1450 Brickell is a bit different. A. Maxwell, writing for the 2009 summer/fall issue of South Florida Design Book, spells it out:
- It’s greener. 1450 Brickell is the first LEED-certified office tower in Miami.
- It’s stronger. The building has one of the strongest glass facades in the nation, sporting a curtain wall of large-missile-impact-resistant glass. Get this: in lab testing, it withstood winds of 327 mph. Hurricane Andrew only hit 155 mph.
- It’s prettier. Mr. Maxwell notes: Environmental and engineering advancements aside, perhaps the most notable feature of the building is its architectural design. More on this point:Bruce Brosch of NBWW explains that the massing of 1450 Brickell was largely inspired by the site. “Miami is a grid city, everything sits on an orthogonal grid. This site is exceptional because it is really the start of The Roads section where the grid of the city shifts about fifteen degrees. We used that as the taking of point for the geometry of the building.” 1450 Brickell addresses the importance of the intersection at 15th Road and Brickell Avenue by establishing a corner detail where the building pulls away from the crossroads while the slanted glass façade reflects the activity at street level. Recognizing that the site is only blocks away from Miami’s tallest structure, The Four Seasons, and the iconic Espirito Santo Plaza by KPF, NBWW’s architects set out to design a building capable of competing with its famous neighbors. They achieved this by creating a striking sculptural mass with projecting glass panels that add movement to the building’s two principal sides and draw the eye skyward. The resulting effect is a soaring silhouette that gives 1450 Brickell a signature image that is instantly recognizable.
For more of Mr. Maxwell’s article, visit the South Florida Design Book‘s site at http://www.designbook.us/magazine/issue/2/1450_brickell. You can also learn more about 1450 Brickell at www.1450brickell.com.
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