Sonesta Key Biscayne

Key Biscayne, Florida, USA

Visualization © Dbox

Architects: Oppenheim Architecture + Design

Commissioned through a limited competition the project was conceived to provide the lightest possible footprint and most porous massing while affording all units unencumbered views towards the ocean. This was ultimately achieved through a thorough analysis and mediation of specific client requirements, site, environmental and market driven exigencies. Aesthetically the skin hybridizes the Florida, specifically Key Biscayne vernacular, and contemporary notions of breathable skins. The cladding of each of the six towers responds to the need to maintain unrestricted views while adequately responding to various climactic concerns. The result is an assemblage of towers wherein the specific requirements of each unit has the ability to register on the façade creating random yet rhythmic variations. Additionally, to provide all the open areas and public spaces with spectacular panoramas of the shores of Key Biscayne a new ground plane was created. Consequently, a new subterranean zone emerged in which all the operational requirements could be neatly concealed and efficiently arranged.

The amalgamation of this approach results in a porous field of six towers all with views to the ocean and a landscape that gently introduces one to the waters of Key Biscayne.