Miami, Florida
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Beginning the tour in North Miami, at the recently opened permanent space of the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Cathy Leff (far right) readies her tourists for a long day of cycling and sight-seeing. -
The three-story outdoor cut-away living room by Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt announces the entrance to South Beach’s design district. -
A kind of modernist, New Urbanist experiment, the eight-and-a-half acre Allison Island features structures by Emanuela Frattini Magnusson, Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company, Hariri and Hariri, Alison Spear, Alexander Gorlin, and Walter F. Chatham, among others. -
The soon-to-be-completed Performing Arts Center designed by Cesar Pelli in downtown Miami provides a fitting end to Leff’s tour and a perfect beginning for a re-energized business district. -
The Raleigh Hotel was originally designed and built in 1940 by Lawrence Murray Dixon. It is renowned for its Art Deco elegance and its pool just a short walk from the beach. André Balazs recently completed a thorough renovation, and the Raleigh is now a sister hotel to the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood and the Mercer in New York. -
In Miami, even the supermarkets have flair. -
The Wolfsonian Museum in Miami Beach was founded in 1986 to display Mitchell Wolfson Jr.’s huge collection of decorative and propaganda arts—including furniture, paintings, prints, books, and other decorative and industrial objects. In 1997 it became part of the Florida International University and is now a full-blown research center as well. -
The Aqua development on Allison Island is the brainchild of South Beach’s development impresario Craig Robins. -
The Bacardi Building is one of Leff’s favorite buildings in Miami. Designed by Enrique Gutierrez of the Puerto Rican firm Sacmag International, with ceramic murals by the Brazilian artist Francisco Brennand, the Bacardi Building, built in 1963, houses offices, a restaurant, and a museum open to the public. Behind the tower is a 1973 addition designed by Ignacio Carrera-Justiz, with glass tapestries by Frenchmen Gabriel and Jacques Loire. -
A pier at the private Hochberg residence typifies Miami’s complete embrace of the outdoors during the warm spring months.
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Miami Advice
Cathy Leff takes to the road (and sidewalk) to lead us on an intrepid bicycle tour of Miami’s architectural and cultural wonders.
Cathy Leff of the Wolfsonian
I first met Cathy Leff, director of the Wolfsonian-Florida International University, three years ago when she gave me a splendid bicycle tour of Miami, Florida.
Michael Graves discusses Good Design
Architect and self-proclaimed “general practitioner” of design Michael Graves shares his thoughts on the effect of good design in a talk at The Wolfsonian–Florida International University.
“Michael Graves stands in the forefront of architecture and design,” notes Cathy Leff, director of The Wolfsonian. “We expect his talk to electrify the South Florida Community of designers, architects, and others who appreciate his innovative design solutions.”
Miami Modern Metropolis:Paradise and Paradox in Midcentury Architecture and Planning- Book Launch
Book signing and presentation by Allan Shulman, Editor of Miami Modern Metropolis, explores Miami's physical and cultural past to reveal how it has developed into a truly paradoxical city.
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