Design Miami 2010

Eventstar Structures

The purpose of this project was to design and manufacture a modern, innovative venue space for the annual Design Miami fair. This temporary structure housed over 25 design galleries in a single 43,000 square foot space during the world’s largest contemporary art fair, Art Basel, that took place in December of 2010.

The purpose of the project was to house one of the world's top design fairs in a unique temporary structure. The main reasons for this specific structure was to deliver optimum coverage within the constraints of the event site and have a very unique design so that it would actually be a part of the exhibition. The client requested that this structure feel like a permanent building without losing the dynamic of the other temporary structures we had done for them in the past.

One of the most unique and complex aspects of this project was creating an open origami facade. To achieve this, we designed supports that would allow us to rest our aluminum profiles horizontally in a tiered formation. This helped provide a louvered wall effect that was not expected in a temporary structure. We achieved a unique and dynamic exterior effect by heat-sealing solid white block-out fabric with a deep purple mesh. This produced a shimmering effect that brought the actual exterior walls to life when viewed from different angles and light.

This structure, as in years past, drew an immense amount of attention from both the international press and the attendees of the fair. We had a very happy repeat client who is already exited about what unique design we will come up with for the 2011 fair.

Project details

Location: Design District, Miami, Fla.
Size: 43,000 sq. feet
Fabrics: Precontraint 702 by Serge Ferrari North America Inc., Soltis by Serge Ferrari North America Inc.
Engineer: Ed Canto, RC Group
Design: Ramiro Gonzalez and Alain Perez, Eventstar Structures
Architect: Moorhead and Moorhead
Fabrication: Alfonso Gonzalez, Eventstar Structures
Subcontractor: Ignacio Perez, Fortrex Structures
Project Manager: Gerry Melendez, Eventstar Structures
Installation: Luis Valle, Eventstar Structures