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For a long time Downtown Miami was ignored by most tourists, who just saw Miami as the “Sunshine City”, a place to enjoy the sun and nice beaches. That changed a lot in the recent past. Miami is also know nowadays for its shopping side, food vibe and culture and art. A new shopping mall arrived in Downtown and it is transforming the location. It is the new Brickell City Center, a billionaire project that will feature luxury brands such as Valentino and Giuseppe Zanotti. The concept of Brickell City Center is to be a village inside the village. It is definitely one of the largest projects in Southeastern of United States.

 

Brickell City Center Downtown Miami

 

Besides being the first retail shopping center in the neighborhood, this 4.9-million sq ft mixed-use space will feature two high-end residential towers offering 780 premium units, two mid-rise office buildings with more than 250,000 square feet of modern workspace  and the luxury hotel EAST, with more than 350 units. The project has been announced as the most important in town for the last few years. It is going to be a huge landmark in the region.

Brickell City Center Climate Ribbon

There will be three major blocks: North, East and West block connected by what we can say is the icon of the project: The Climate Ribbon, a giant $ 30-million sculpture and art piece that will act as an environmental management system. It is the first of its kind in USA and what makes Brickell City Center unique and different from every other development in Miami. The sculpture reminds of waves coming together. It was designed to capture the breeze from outside and transport it inside the village and the mall.

 

Climate Ribbon

But what is the Climate Ribbon, and why was it conceived?

When you listen to the Climate Ribbon developers explaining the structure, you start to understand the fantastic concept of this masterpiece and the reasons why it was built.

All the retail part of the project was designed to be open air areas, bringing to Downtown the concept of walking lifestyle. This way people could enjoy walking from one block to the other in the village without that restrictive feeling of being in an indoor mall. But how to create that environment in a climate-secured area? That was the challenge.

Some kind of canopy should be made following the bridges that connected the three blocks. People should walk through the retail areas being protected from the sun and rain, but at the same time feeling an open air atmosphere.

Developers then envisioned a giant ribbon that should follow the path of the bridges connecting the different blocks. They actually took a ribbon and literally frumpled it. After letting it go they could visualize all the different angles off the wrinkled tissue. So they imagined this distorted ribbon covering and protecting the retail area.

To allow the natural sunlight under it the canopy was made of a special fritted glass with little spots on it. The spots partially absorbs the radiant sunlight heat. To support the canopy a steel structure was designed. And just underneath the glass canopy there are special blades, made of Italian fabric, that follows the entire canopy path. The blades have different angles and were designed tho harness the air from outside and transport it inside the retail area. It works as an natural air-conditioning bringing a new concept of sustainability modern architecture.

For more information visit the official website: https://www.brickellcitycentre.com

Video about the Climate Ribbon in Brickell City Center

Developers explains details of the Climate Ribbon in Brickell City Center in the video below:

Brickell City Center Location

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