The Miami Design District: fashion, design and public art, the back story

A few walkable blocks north of downtown hold Miami’s fashion district: more than 200 global luxury brands among public art, bold architecture and two contemporary art spaces. This is how it came about, and what to look for.

A district reborn

In 2000 the developer and collector Craig Robins set about transforming the then-abandoned Miami Design District into a centre for design, fashion, food and art. His company Dacra now develops it with L Catterton Real Estate, founded in 2016 by Catterton, LVMH and Groupe Arnault.

In 2005 the district’s renewal gave birth to Design Miami, the collectible design fair that now runs every December alongside Miami Art Week.

The fashion houses

Today the district is anchored by more than 200 global luxury brands. Chanel, Dior, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Carolina Herrera and Jacquemus have flagships here, beside the watchmakers and jewellers: Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Rolex, Patek Philippe and Hublot.

Art in the open

The district treats its streets as a gallery. In the centre of Palm Court stands Buckminster Fuller’s Fly’s Eye Dome. Fuller designed and patented the dome in 1965; Robins acquired the 24-foot prototype in 2011, and the Buckminster Fuller Institute unveiled a new edition here in December 2014.

The dome is also a doorway: you can walk through it to the Palm Court Garage below. Overlooking it from the floor above is Xavier Veilhan’s fibreglass Le Corbusier of 2013, the architect rendered larger than life.

Zaha Hadid’s Elastika, commissioned by Robins for the first Design Miami in 2005, sprawls the length of the four-level atrium of The Moore at 191 NE 40th Street. Torno Subito sits beneath it.

Look out too for John Baldessari’s Fun at 3800 NE 1st Avenue, Daniel Toole’s Jade Alley of 2017, a run of parabolic concrete walls at 176 NE 41st Street, and Antonyo Marest’s Allegra of 2023 on Paseo Ponti.

Architecture

Even the car park is a sight. For the Museum Garage at 90 NE 41st Street, the architect and curator Terence Riley developed the concept in 2015, and WORKac, J. Mayer H., Clavel Arquitectos, Nicolas Buffe and Riley’s own firm K/R each designed a façade.

In the Design District the car park is a work of architecture, and the way down to it is through a Buckminster Fuller dome.

The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami is at 61 NE 41st Street, and the de la Cruz Collection is a few steps away.

Walking it today

Start at Palm Court, walk through the dome, then wander north to the Museum Garage and ICA Miami. Le Jardinier and Mandolin Aegean Bistro are the classic lunch stops.

Our advice: combine the Design District with Wynwood, a short ride south, and come in the morning, when the streets are quiet and the light is kind to the architecture.