1111 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach [Diego Diez de Medina]

            Located at one of the ends of Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, the 1111 Parking garage by Herzog and De Meuron is a reflection of the programmatic, and circulatory relationship that happens on the pedestrian road it sits on.  The Building is a series of unevenly spaced out floor slabs connected by ramps that drive circling around the vertical pedestrian circulation.

            At ground floor the invitation extended to pedestrians is visible beginning with the continuation and penetration of the floor pattern designed by Raymond Jungles through the building. the pattern extends to the storefronts and follows the curvature of the windows. At one point, where the pedestrian entrance to the building is, the pattern pierces through the building, all the way to the small back pedestrian alley in between 1111 and the next building. This passage through the building announces the beginning of the stairs that lead up to the top floor through an irregular staircase, with landings which don't match due to the different heights from floor to floor. This dynamic gesture is further enhanced with the arrangement of the fluorescent light bulbs.

            As one walks up the stair, the staircase itself frames views of the building making the visitor a participant and a spectator of the space. The openness of the building mimics the openness of Lincoln Road and its follies, and the visual connection from even the top floor of the building is clear just by approaching the edge of the south facade of the building.

            The relationship of vehicular circulation with Lincoln Road and 1111  shows in the way that vehicles can only circle the stairs. The experience of driving up the garage is similar to that of walking up the stairs, except in how one views out the building. as a pedestrian  one can look down on Lincoln road and still feel part of the pedestrian road, however as a driver one experiences Lincoln road and its views from afar. even as one parks the car, the parking spaces don't really look to Lincoln road, but the view is of all of Miami Beach. Although the building is designed for vehicles and the spaces relate to the spatial qualities that Lincoln road provides, and that visual connection from one to the other, it still represents vehicular circulation completely separate and disconnected to a pedestrian.

            The spatial and circulatory relationships with those characteristics of Lincoln Road is what truly makes the building a "vertical extension" of Lincoln Road not only for pedestrians, but now the experience can be seen while driving. Almost as if Lincoln Road started welcoming  vehicular traffic.