Via Wikipedia

South Beach, in the decades since its boom in the '30s and '40s, has grown into a full blown cesspool of touristic masturbation and a parade ground for this city's local breeds of yeyo. In spite of this, it has also remained one of the most beautiful and architecturally enchanting slivers of Miami-Dade. And while South Beach may be home to a range of architectural styles from Mediterranean to MiMo, none are more associated with this city's image than Art Deco.

South Beach was reborn in Art Deco. After the vicious hurricane of September 1926, which utterly razed the city, wrought havoc, and left some 400 dead, Miami Beach saw a building boom that lasted the better part of 20 years. That era of rebuilding focused primarily on resurrecting the fledgling resort community in the chic new style that had come out of the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Artes Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, which would be shortened simply to 'Art Deco.'

See also:
- The Ten Best Skyscrapers in Miami

Now, South Beach is home to over 800 Art Deco structures, according to the National Register of Historic Buildings, making the main drags of Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue a fascinating pastel spectacle. And while the scores of three-story hotels that compose that list may start to seem ubiquitous after a certain point, they all have their fair share of aesthetics, personality, and charm. Here are ten buildings among them that carry an especially great deal of all three.

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Michele Eve / Wikimedia CC

One, two, three, four -- come on, baby, save the Miami Marine Stadium!

The historic waterfront venue got one step closer to revitalization this week when Miami's own Gloria Estefan took a stand to preserve its one of a kind architecture. In her first statement as the "Voice of the Miami Marine Stadium," Estefan said, "The stadium reflects the diversity of South Florida. It was designed by a young Cuban-American architect, and has played host to artists from Jimmy Buffett to Sammy Davis Jr..... We look forward to the day when this spectacular place is once again a thriving center of cultural life for people in South Florida."

See also:
- Architects Propose Saving the Miami Marine Stadium With a Giant Helium Balloon
- Miami Marine Stadium: A Revival of Magic, Concrete, and Spray Paint

But will Estefan contribute a theme song to the campaign to save the Miami Marine Stadium? There are certainly plenty to choose from. Looking back on some of Gloria's greatest hits, it's possible she's been penning odes to the neglected building all along. (Not probable, but possible.)

Consider these lyrics:

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via pinkcloud.dk

PinkCloud's Project Inflatable.

Miami's a city where old and new meet in unique and often surprising ways, especially when it comes to its architecture. So PinkCloud's idea to revitalize the Miami Marine Stadium, an architectural treasure now covered in graffiti, is perhaps the most fitting proposal for returning the venue to life.

It's futuristic. It's eye-catching. And oh yeah, it's essentially a giant helium balloon.

See also:
- Miami Marine Stadium: A Revival of Magic, Concrete, and Spray Paint
- Parkour Athletes Flip to Save the Miami Marine Stadium (Video)

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Photos by Claire Nelson

You roll under the toll of arches, where you'll pay your $1.75 in shiny stained quarters and leave the mainland via Rickenbacker conveyance. You ride the long curvaceous bridge above the Bay that takes you to Key Biscayne. Another few minutes of driving and you'll find yourself presented with a tall, unbarred fence and a looming dilapidated structure, longer than a football field and seemingly streamed in a multitude of colors, hidden by a lush overgrowth of trees. Pull in, move along the course of the roundabout until the undeniably immense and interesting concrete creation is at your side, and bask in the air of aged abandonment. This is Miami Marine Stadium.

And while it has sat silently upon its watery foundations for the last two decades like a beautiful corpse in the sun, there is finally a spark of hope that Marine Stadium will soon be resurrected as a unique venue for extraordinary entertainment.

See also:
- Photos: Touring the Miami Marine Stadium

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The James Royal Palm

Miami Beach is beautiful. With its long, sandy shoreline, lovely climate, and amazing confluence of world cultures, the Beach has gone from a sleepy seaside resort to a world-class city. And in the short history of that process, it has also become one of the most distinctive and fascinating architectural cityscapes on the planet.

Exploring this unique cityscape was the idea behind Saturday's Miami Art Museum Bike Crawl, a four-mile jaunt around South Beach's historic Art Deco District that began and ended at the newly renovated James Royal Palm.

See also:
- The Ten Best Skyscrapers in Miami
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Miami is a flourishing, young city, barely a century old and fluid in its rhythms, its culture, and its image. That image has evolved year by year with the rising and falling of skyscrapers all across the county, as we continue to find ourselves wandering about fascinating new pieces of architecture that pierce upward along our flat horizon. And while one of the most significant periods of that architectural evolution took place in the '80s, in the wake of Miami's cocaine renaissance, the ill-fated boom era of our economy that came to a grinding halt in 2007 saw a flurry of activity in the form of mega-cranes and legions of construction companies pushing our skyline higher.

Soon, that skyline will have itself a new occupant in the exciting form of Zaha Hadid's first skyscraper on this side of the planet. As Miami's architectural landscape prepares for yet another change, we're taking an affectionate look at the wonderful buildings we know and love around town. From downtown Miami to the northern throes of the Beach, here are the ten most exquisite heights in our expanding jungle of glass-and-steel behemoths.

See also:
- Zaha Hadid's One Thousand Museum Tower Will Make the Rest of Downtown Look, Like, So Ten Years Ago
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via Curbed Miami

One of these things is not like the others.

Yesterday, Curbed Miami published a "motherlode" of renderings, floor plans, and other images showing architect Zaha Hadid's One Thousand Museum tower, her first skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere. The most appropriate word for the building? Badass.

In addition to its futuristic exoskeleton, the tower will feature an "amenity deck," which is essentially an entire floor of indoor and outdoor space that includes a massive fitness center and pools on both sides of the building (for sunrise and sunset, naturally). Swimmers will be able to walk over the pools on footbridges shaped like something out of Tron.

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- Zaha Hadid Skyscraper to Replace Downtown BP Station (Photos)

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As we reported earlier, Real Housewives of Miami cast member Lisa Hochstein really doesn't appreciate it when you say nasty things about her on the Internet. But that hasn't stopped her from trashing preservationists seeking control over Hochstein's Star Island home, which they say is historic.

Hochstein, with her husband, have clashed with the Miami Design Preservation League since December, when the league submitted a proposal to designate the Hochstein's 1920s home at 42 Star Island as a historic building. The measure would foil proposed renovations by the Hochsteins.

Lisa Hochstein's remained relatively quiet about the whole ordeal -- until now. Earlier this afternoon, the housewife went off on the MDPL, posting a series of angry tweets:

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Ciara LaVelle

A sunny day at the PAMM site.

People come to Miami for the beaches, for the palm trees, for the weather. Art Basel aside, they don't generally come to Miami to stand around inside under a bunch of fluorescent lighting. (Not during the daylight hours, anyway.)

So Herzog & de Meuron, the architects of the rapidly rising Perez Art Museum Miami, have made it their mission to make the new museum feel as breezy and tropical as possible. Some of it was simple; include an open-air deck facing Biscayne Bay to capitalize on those soothing sea breezes, for example. But some of it had never been done before. Today, the largest single sheet of hurricane-resistant glass ever manufactured was installed at the new building.

We stopped by to see the building-in-progress for ourselves. Check out our photos after the jump.

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- Art Basel's Biggest Buy: Jorge Perez Gets MAM Name For $35 Million, Over Objections
- Miami Art Museum Receives $5 Million From MBF Healthcare Partners Chairman Mike Fernandez
- "New Work Miami 2013" at Miami Art Museum Through June 2

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via zaha-hadid.com

Zaha Hadid

Downtown Miami's about to get another exciting upgrade. Renowned architect Zaha Hadid will design her first skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere across from the new Museum Park, investors Gregg Covin and Louis Birdman announced yesterday.

The new tower will rise at 1000 Biscayne Blvd., on the site of the current BP gas station. And while that'll make it a bit more difficult to fill up your tank as you drive through downtown Miami, we're getting a building designed by arguably the most important architect alive today.

See also:
- All the Cool Downtown Miami Buildings Are Wearing LED Lighting This Season
- Miami Art Museum Starts Vertical Construction at Museum Park

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