Fun in the Miami Design District

When people think of Miami they probably think of South Beach because it is the area with the most popular beaches, clubs and also the most tourists. However, there is another area that is equally exciting named Miami Design District.

The transformation of the Miami Design District from being an area with tenantless buildings to a world class community was started in the 1980's by Craig Robins. The Miami born and raised man wanted to re-establish this forgotten part of Miami to the heights of its former glory days when it was common to see the nations's top designers. So, Craig Robins used his real estate development company Darca, to bring a rebirth of the district's culture and commerce.


Today, the Miami Design District boasts brand name stores such as Gucci, Prada, Dolce and Gabbana and other luxury stores. Culturally, the area hosts one of the most important displays of international artwork during the first week of December called Art Basel. Overall, the Miami Design District brings tourists and locals alike great experiences on a day to day basis.

Museum

The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is a lively museum in the Miami Design District that was established in 2017. The building itself was designed by Aranguen & Gallegos architects and was constructed to mimic a "Magic Box", with its bright and geometric shape and texture. The museum stands three stories tall and has 20,000 square feet of gallery space. The museum houses special exhibitions, permanent collections and also sculptures in the garden behind the building.

The artwork in the ICA varies from new talent to very well known artists. For example, Sterling Ruby is a distinguished American artist who works in a large variety of media such as ceramics, paintings, sculptures, drawings, collages, videos and textiles. Sterling's artwork on display at the museum showed his ability to connect art with the larger story of society. Overall, the art exhibited at the museum was well crafted and thought provoking.

Film and Photography

The Miami Design District is designed in a very captivating way. Walking along 40th street  one can see a giant sculpture of an intimidating sumo wrestler, which is presented by the Markowiz Fine Art company. Across  39th street there is a huge dome with fiberglass spheres popping out named the Fly's Eye Dome, created by Buckminster Fuller. These unique pieces of art and details of the architectural design make the Miami Design District very alluring.

Due to this many Miami filmmakers and photographers enjoy capturing moments there for their work. A personal example was when my director in my film class decided to shoot at the location. We filmed a very intimate scene with an amateur male actor and a professional actress who works for the television network, Telemundo. Even though we were shooting a student film the project had a very professional look because of the ambiance and background of the Miami Design District.

Shopping

As mentioned previously, the Miami Design District is filled with luxury clothing and accessory stores.  Gucci, an Italian clothing store,  sells regular T shirts with their logo on them for over $150 USD. Louis Vuitton, another Italian clothing store, sells jackets and sweatshirts for over $1,000 USD. Keeping up to date with the latest fashion and most prestigious clothing stores can cost an arm and a leg.

The reason why you see so many people in this area flaunting their chic tastes and fashion nova looks is because a majority of them are very wealthy. If they are locals living near the Miami Design District than they would have to be making a minimum of a least $77,000 USD a year due to the calculations of regular living costs in Miami. Also there are many tourists with either deep pockets or who have been saving their earnings, waiting to spend it in Miami.