one biscayne tower

address: 2 south biscayne boulevard, miami, united states
architects: gutierrez-latimer, fraga and associates
date: 1973

At 38 stories, One Biscayne Tower dominated the Miami skyline from its completition until the arrival of the Wachovia Financial Center and Miami Center. Its bulky presence in the skyline reflects the evolution of office building design in the 1970s. In contrast to the narrow profile of 100 South Biscayne Boulevard, its greater volume reflected the larger floor plates requerid by contemporary office planning. The office floors are wrapped in dark glass, reflecting a more technological approach to solar control. Moreover, the building is structurally expressive. The glass curtain wall is vertically sliced by sculpted white concrete piers that flare outward where the office tower meets the parking garage and at the top. The pedestal´s clearly expressed ramped parking garage, finished in exposed cast concrete and occupyng nearly a third of the tower´s full height, is a visible if brutal manifestation of contemporary parking requeriments.

One Biscayne turns its tower to Biscayne Boulevard, while its lobby opens to the cross streets. This cross-block lobby, along with the building´s unusual below-grade shopping arcade, extends a local tradition of interior arcades connecting streets.

Allan T. Schulman, Randall C. Robinson Jr., James F. Donnelly