Context
The hotel, with its several renovated, new and adapted buildings and newly enlivened alleys, creates east-west continuity, weaving a connection from the pedestrianized fabric of its neighborhood through to the beach and ocean.
The existing hotel (top image) was designed by noted Miami Beach architect Henry Hohauser and built in 1936. The current architect restored the historic hotel and added a new wing in the adjacent empty lot.
Major addition
Illustrated in red, in addition to a major new hotel block the public spaces were expanded via the Orb, the Swoop and the Flying Pool Deck.
The Orb
The renovated historic hotel was joined to its neighbor behind through an innovative connective corridor that creates the illusion of a seamless transition inside, and appears as a piece of public art, a sphere nicknamed The Orb, from the outside.
A connective corridor encased in the glossy white sphere was transformed into public art in an unexpected place
The Betsy-Carlton Hotel
Miami Beach, Florida | 2016
Building as Poem: The design for the expansion of one prominent Miami Beach hotel into a neighboring one synthesizes boutique hotel, cultural facility, and urban intervention.
Inspired by the works of a major American poet, the owners conceived the hotel as a platform for their philanthropic family foundation: P.A.C.E. (philanthropy, arts, culture, and education). The resultant design evolved as an expression of the client’s programmatic needs, mixing levels of boutique hotel and cultural facilities, challenging the idea of buildings as specialized according to use.
The design development considered the preservative nature of the historic Miami Beach Architectural District (South Beach) and injection of new buildings into its urban streetscape. The connection of the two hotels inspired a spatial intervention that would transform the neglected space of two service alleys. Our solution was an Orb: a spherical, pedestrian bridge over the alleys seemingly suspended between the two structures – its polished white surface activated by image projection from the alley.
The completed hotel comprises 130 guestrooms, two restaurants, a conservatory, workroom, library, gallery, and a courtyard serving as a theatrical performance area. A chef’s herb garden surrounds a rooftop amphitheater. Below, poetic works from diverse voices like Langston Hughes, Donald Justice, Mohammed Ali, Campbell McGrath, Julie Marie Wade, and Hyam Plutzik, are etched into aluminum sheets to create the Poetry Rail.
The most daring innovation was the pool deck, hoisted into the sky above the buildings and courtyard as an aerial bridge. The deck offers a platform for swimming and sunning, while the performance space beneath it forms a proscenium, housing theater equipment. Altogether, the hotel offers nearly 15,000 square feet of formal and informal cultural event space.
Architect: Shulman + Associates
Landscape Architect: Naturalficial
Rail graphic design: Coster Creative
Photographer: Emilio Collavino, Robin Hill
Client: The Betsy Hotel
Awards:
2020 AIA Miami Merit Award / Built >50k S 2018 AHEAD Americas Awards: Shortlist, Hotel Renovation & Restoration
2017 AIA Miami Divine Detail Award
2017 Better Beach Awards: Innovative Architecture, Platinum
2017 Better Beach Awards: Historic Preservation, Silver
2017 Conde Nast Gold List
2017 Miami Hospitality Design Awards: Judges' Award for Extraordinary Placemaking
2017 Miami Hospitality Design Awards: Outside Divine Detail