1111 Lincoln Road

Text description provided by architect.

We have previously featured 1111 Lincoln Road by Herzog & de Meuron. We focused mostly on the building and interior design, but the landscape is equally note worthy and should not be missed. Raymond Jungles, the project's landscape architect, generously shared with us the project from his perspective.

The roadway turned greenway and waterway is an Everglades-inspired aquatic-infused environment where specimen Cypress trees anchor the “urban glade” within the pedestrian plaza.

1111 Lincoln Road is one block of a mile-long pedestrian mall consisting of a series of blocks running west from Alton Road to its eastern terminus at Washington Avenue, with each block bound by north/south street automobile crossings.

The fourth and most important challenge was gaining the approval of the design from the City of Miami Beach’s Historic Preservation Board. The 1100 block is located within two architectural districts and is considered non-contributing to the overall mall, as it no longer retains original Morris Lapidus’s design features.

The 1100 block of Lincoln Road, with its steady sun exposure through ubiquitous palm tree lined sidewalks and constant car traffic, was uninviting to locals and tourists alike. Now, the space is in motion with people, plant life and sound. It is an inviting green space exclusively for the living and breathing.

The design cultivates an atmosphere of native Florida without losing a sense of distinction as a pedestrian mall. A central open space is defined by a slightly raised platform, unique in architectural form and integrated in function, which creates flexible space for public gatherings, presentations and events.

Many shoppers find themselves spending more time browsing below the surface of the verdant water gardens than through store windows. Curved, unpainted, polished concrete planter configurations echo the shape of the structures they surround, made with reinforced concrete rather than steel beams, facilitating the flexibility of the building envelope.

The plaza is a place for families to rest from a long walk or after a wonderful meal. The water gardens attract a child’s curiosity, unleashing their energy to twist around crooked Sabal palms and squeeze through mature Live Oak branches. Parents hoist their young up onto the concrete benches where they search and point at the small fish, turtles and the occasional heron on the hunt for nutrients.

The eponymous water environments are symbolic of native ecosystems more than touristic preconceptions, formulated at a pedestrian scale and equipping 1111 Lincoln Road for future years of use. Raymond Jungles, Inc. is a dynamic, creative, and ecologically sensitive landscape architecture firm, practicing from its studio on the banks of the Miami River in downtown Miami, Florida.

The firm’s botanical garden portfolio includes the 2009 Brazilian Modern Orchid Show at New York Botanical Garden, the Brazilian Garden at Naples Botanical Garden and Miami Beach Botanical Garden.