FRONTIER Building Completes Wawa’s 200th Florida Store

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Our client, FRONTIER Building has recently completed Wawa’s 200th Florida store in Naples. The experience-focused national contractor celebrated this major historical build with a grand opening event that took place last month. This milestone comes a little more than seven years after the Wawa brand launched into the Florida market, ahead of initial projections and schedules.
“As we reflect on our Florida journey, beginning with a single store in 2012 and now opening our 200th store in 2019, we are deeply grateful to our customers and associates who have made this expansion possible,” said Gheysens. “Thank you for supporting us over the past seven years. We can’t wait to see what the future of Wawa in Florida holds!”
Located at 12456 Tamiami Trail East at the Price Street Plaza, the brand-new convenience store and gas station now offers an additional fueling option for east and west bound drivers along U.S. 41.
The new 7,211 square foot convenience store is located on a 90,000 square foot lot and features eight fueling pumps and 55 parking spaces. FRONTIER’s Derek Hopkins was the onsite project manager overseeing the ground-up construction.
“FRONTIER is honored to have been selected to build out Wawa’s 200th Florida store,” said Hopkins. “Being based in Florida, we hope to continue to build for the national brand as it continues to expand its presence in the state.”
FRONTIER Building is currently building out another Wawa convenience store and gas station in North Miami, Florida. The Miami-based national firm also has two additional Wawa projects underway in Rosedale, Maryland and Manassas, Virginia.

BBA’s Claudia Busch Guides FIU Architecture Students in Designing a Mobile Art Pavilion

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Next summer, a futuristic Mobile Art Pavilion designed by Florida International University students, will bring a new way to showcase pop-up art exhibits and plays to our South Florida community.
Berenblum Busch Architects’ Founding Principal and Senior Instructor at FIU’s Department of Architecture Claudia Busch led seven student teams to build on ideas for this multi-use, mobile art pavilion. Of the seven designs proposed by 15 students, the plan of a 315-square-foot, dome-like structure was selected.
The FIU School of Architecture team proposed a waterproof pavilion that “will have three layers with the outer one made from a rigid metal frame to hold the fabric that encloses the pavilion. Display walls are designed to rotate to vary the enclosure and accommodate for art display and performance.”
The structure will use renewable energy resources and sustainable materials, and the fabric envelope features solar coating “to help reflect and diffuse direct solar radiation, optimizing temperature comfort inside.”
The project is part of a partnership between FIU and Grace Arts Florida. Senior Instructor Claudia Busch led the student teams from her Graduate Architecture Studio 9.
For more information, visit Miami Herald.

Choeff Levy Fischman Selected as Top Coastal Architects 2019 for 4th Year in a Row

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We’re excited to announce that one of our clients, award-winning architects Choeff Levy Fischman, have been selected as one of Ocean Home Magazine’s Top 50 Coastal Architects. The 2019 list marks the fourth consecutive year the firm has been included among other top coastal architects from around the country. Well-known for their Tropical Modern designs throughout South Florida, this year the firm is working on oceanfront residences in Turks & Caicos and Panama City.
As stated in Ocean Home, “every ocean home is special, and so are our Top 50 Coastal Architects.” The annual list compiles 50 who judges believe possess the unique skills, experience, and sensibilities required to design and build magnificent custom homes close to one of the most beautiful (and unforgiving) forces of nature on Earth—the ocean.
Leading Tropical Modern architects Choeff Levy Fischman have continuously created stunning modern and contemporary homes throughout Miami, Miami Beach, Bal Harbour, Golden Beach, and Fort Lauderdale.
One of the firm’s most recently completed projects is located on Palm Island in Miami Beach. This new opulent residence leaves you in awe the moment you step onto its lavish motor court. The two-story home, designed in the architect’s famed Tropical Modern architectural style, provides large living spaces in an open-concept format. It includes floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors that open up to the rear deck, blending the indoors with the outdoors. A focal point of the home’s interior is a stunning 460 square foot open-air atrium with floating steps that take you across a shallow pool of water. Additional soul-soothing reflecting ponds and cascading water features are spread throughout the property on all four sides of the residence to emphasize its waterfront location.
To view the full list of top coastal architects, visit OceanHome.

ICA Miami & Stantec Presented Climate Change, Art, and Architecture Panel Discussion

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On Thursday, October 10th, ICA Miami in collaboration with Stantec hosted a discussion panel on Climate Change, Art, and Architecture. The event took place at the Miami Design District Palm Court.
Continuing ICA Miami’s dedication to understanding urgent environmental issues, this panel explored how anthropogenic effects apply pressure to architectural design and cultural production. It was led by renowned architectural critic Beth Dunlop. Panelists included John Malueg, manager of Stantec’s resiliency program; David Rifkind, interim chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture + Environmental and Urban Design at Florida International University; Elizabeth Wheaton, City of Miami Beach’s Director of the Environment & Sustainability Department; and Xavier Cortada, environmental artists and Professor of Practice at the University of Miami.  The panel also explored the concept of resiliency and the role of architects and artists in mitigating cultural, social, and environmental degradation.

BBA and Saladino Design Studios, AIA Miami 2019 Design Awards Winners

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The AIA Miami 2019 Design Awards took place at the Historic Hampton House on Friday, October 4th. Two of our clients, Berenblum Busch Architects and Saladino Design Studios, were awarded for their work.
Berenblum Busch Architects won the Architecture Greater Than 50,000 square feet award for their design of the Tenerife Cruise Terminal in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. BBA adaptively reused two large existing steel warehouses located on-site and strategically added new buildings by using Cross Laminated Timber Technology. Approximately 17,000 square feet of certified wood was used, making it the largest wood building erected to date in Spain. The building achieved the maximum European Union Energy Label. The state-of-the-art terminal was designed to receive mega vessels transporting up to 5,000 passengers and serving as home-port or port-of-call.
Saladino Design Studios won a Divine Detail award for their design of SuViche Doral. The 3,800 square-foot SuViche restaurant in Miami’s popular CityPlace Doral. The design of the award-winning Peruvian-influenced Japanese restaurant concept was inspired by the vibrant colors of traditional Peruvian materials and fabrics blended with Miami’s tropical environment. The whimsical interiors boast vibrant Peruvian colors, playful swinging chairs, macramé rope art mural, Pisco bar and “Let’s Get Saucy” floral and moss graffiti wall.

Berenblum Busch Architects Designs Major Expansion of Carnival’s Terminal F at PortMiami

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Carnival Cruise Line received approval for a major expansion and renovation of Terminal F at PortMiami designed by Berenblum Busch Architects. The expansion will accommodate the cruise line’s excel class ship for arrival in 2022. When completed, Terminal F will be the third cruise terminal at PortMiami dedicated to Carnival operations and the cruise line’s largest in North America.

BBA’s simple and open design will allow for exceptional efficiency and flexibility to accommodate Carnival’s largest class of ships, maximizing use of facial recognition technology and other elements to move guests through the embarkation process.

Carnival Cruise Line is the largest cruise operator in Miami with more year-round ships sailing from PortMiami than any other cruise line. The redesigned Terminal F will allow Carnival to continue to be the leader in the market and will enable the line to bring its next LNG ship to South Florida. 

Read more on Carnivalcorp.

MCAD’s BAM Program Helps Mom Start A New Career

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A program of Miami Center for Architecture and Design, Black Architects in the Making was launched by M.C. Harry & Associates to increase African American representation in architecture.

An architectural project manager at M.C. Harry & Associates, Naomi Harrison has already increased their representation through her mentorship of Bernise Muhammad, a BAM mom who went from being on the sidelines to now pursuing a career in architecture at Florida International University.

CBS 4 visited a recent BAM workshop where they learned more about Naomi and Bernise’s relationship and the work BAM is doing in the community.

A Miami woman is on a new career path in architecture thanks to a program designed for students.

Naomi Harrison is an architectural project manager at M C Harry & Associates, which created Black Architects in the Making, also known as BAM.

BAM was created to introduce and educate middle and high school students, primarily African American, to the world of architecture.

Harrison has been involved with BAM for several years, helping expose youngsters to architecture but also working to diversify the industry.

“One of the underrepresented in the industry is also females. 18-percent of architects are females but only .04-percent of the architects in the state identify as black female Americans,” explained Harrison.

Harrison along with other associates go into communities where African Americans live, work, and play and talk to them about architecture.

It was at one of the workshops where she met Bernise Muhammad, the parent of one of the students. For more information, visit CBS4

Stantec Featured in INDULGE Design & Real Estate Issue 2019

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Stantec’s Andrew Burnett, Raed Alawadhi, and Aida Sanchez-Gomez were featured in INDULGE’s 2019 Design and Real Estate Issue. They shared their experience, expertise, and insights in the architecture and design industry.

Andrew Burnett, Senior Principal, says Solitair Brickell is a project that stands out as an example of the firm’s work. The building’s unique façade inspired by the Medjool palm tree stands out from other high-rises in the Brickell area. He adds that architecture is transcendent, and it contributes to our collective sense of place connecting us to each other and our environmental ecology. 

When it comes to design, Raed Alawadhi, Senior Interior Designer, is influenced by his travels, especially Europe, because of their way of intervening a modern addition into an old building. Interior design trends he’s currently seeing include golds and rose golds and clients are very drawn to it, he adds.

According to Aida Sanchez-Gomez, Senior Architect, the Bacardi building has made an impact on her design style because it captures the essence of Miami and its people with its fused art and architecture. When it comes to her approach to architecture, she states that she is more concerned with how a project’s design crafts an experience for its occupants. She looks for the story that drives the design, and sometimes it stems from the natural environment or history of the site.

Read more on INDULGE.

Saladino Design Studios Selected to Design the Interiors for New Ten30 Residential

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Saladino Design Studios has been selected to provide the interior design of Ten30, a new 70,354 square foot condominium development by Shoma Group. The four-story, 43-unit project, which recently broke ground, is located at 1030 15th Street in the heart of South Beach.

Saladino Design Studios is creating a unique residential experience that combines Mid-Century Palm Springs, industrial New York City, and tropical Miami. The firm is designing all the common areas, including the lobby, lounge, outdoor spaces, unit corridors, and rooftop deck.

The lobby interiors will boast colorful, eclectic, Mid-Century stylish furniture and artwork set against the more industrial brick walls and custom wood ceiling paneling. The 6,000 square-foot rooftop deck will feature a rosé-colored pool with teak wood pergola and an outdoor yoga area surrounded by cacti and lush greenery. A quaint lounge next to the pool is surrounded by windows with minimalist furnishings and concrete panels.

The residential development is scheduled for completion in late 2020.

Choeff Levy Fischman Selected for Designer of the Year Awards and are Winners of International Property Awards

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Each year, HGTV goes on the hunt for its Designer of the Year. This year, our client Choeff Levy Fischman was selected as a finalist for the national competition’s Dramatic Before + After category – the only Miami firm selected in 2019. The chosen project was a former Mediterranean-style residence built in 2002 which the architects transformed into a more modern resort-style living Miami Beach home.

The award-wining architects conducted extensive renovations to the interiors to modernize the outdated layout and architecture. They also completely transformed the home’s backyard area by redesigning the swimming pool, deck, guest house, and outdoor cabana.

To vote for Choeff Levy Fischman, check out  HGTV.com and vote for ‘Updated Mediterranean Villa in Miami’.

It’s been an exciting month couple of weeks for the firm as another one of their stunning designs was also selected as a winner in the Architecture Single Family category by the International Property Awards. Choeff Levy Fischman’s design of a Palm Island residence in collaboration with their client Aquablue Group will be recognized at the October awards ceremony in Toronto.

The home features the architects’ signature Tropical Modern architectural style with an emphasis on indoor-outdoor living and several water features along with wide open interior and exterior spaces that seamlessly blend the interior and exterior environments.

Congratulations!