11 11 Lincoln Road, [Jillian Rio]

Being a multi-use building with retail and restaurant spaces on the ground floor, fifth floor, and seventh floor, along with a penthouse residency, 11 11 Lincoln Road becomes more than a parking garage and a complement to Lincoln Road Mall (Figure 1). The building was designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron to primarily be a parking garage, but also a multipurpose space.

(Figure 1: Storefronts at ground level and the fifth floor cradling the open-air parking)

11 11 Lincoln Road is grounded to its site by welcoming accessibility off of the street and into Lincoln Road Mall. It is most often viewed on one of Miami Beach’s main streets, Alton Road. Driving North on Alton Road, the full length of the columns on the seventh floor of the 11 11 building can be seen just above the buildings preceding it. Its remarkable height and seemingly unfinished framing attracts attention and sparks wonder in the foreground of its surrounding stucco clad structures. When the cars parked up to the very edge of the floor plates come into view, the building is finally realized as a parking garage. Conveniently located at one end of Lincoln Road Mall, the building becomes an icon calling cars off of Alton and onto the pedestrian friendly street (Figure 2).

(Figure 2: 11 11 Lincoln Road demanding attention from Alton Road.)

Standing on Lincoln Road, next to 11 11 and in the building’s park designed by landscape architect Raymond Jungles’, the focus of the building is no longer on its farsighted sculptural quality, but its decisions on a smaller scale to become a true part of Lincoln Road. Although the building is 125’ tall, the strong delineation created by the overhang of the second floor, continues the respected storefront height that the buildings of Lincoln Road Mall share (Figure 3).

(Figure 3: Model of 11 11 Lincoln Road. The cross between storefront and open parking garage)

The undulating, glass storefronts of 11 11 Lincoln Road also carry the same dynamism created by most of the other storefronts in Lincoln Road Mall. The recessed entrances pull the pedestrian into the stores. Also like the surrounding restaurant and retail spaces, the spaces in 11 11 Lincoln Road vary in size to refrain from conducting a monotonous walk (Figure 4).

(Figure 4: Ground floor plan of 11 11 Lincoln Road showing relation to Raymond Jungles’ park and that variation in storefronts.)

There is a small break in the building on the ground floor that carries the pedestrian up into the upper floors of the parking garage (Figure 5). 11 11 Lincoln Road adds to the experience of Lincoln Road Mall by becoming a successful extension of the mall and bringing in an alternative view of the pedestrian street and the city (Figure 6). 

(Figure 5: On the second floor of 11 11 Lincoln Road looking down into the break in the ground floor and start of the building’s vertical circulation.)

(Figure 6: North view from sixth floor of 11 11 Lincoln Road.)