David's Cafe + Market

Miami Beach, Florida | 2011

This project creates a Cuban café, full service restaurant, and marketplace out of a collection of historic buildings from two eras of Miami Beach’s early history. Sited on a corner lot in the urban core of the resort city, the project engages the rich urbanity of its surroundings. A strong example of adaptive use, this project links the origins of Miami Beach with its contemporary urban character.

Two wood vernacular structures built in the pioneer era of Miami Beach’s development – likely between 1915 and 1917 – are at the rear, while a 1926 service station fills the street corner frontage. The service station has become the café, and yet the transparency of its open space, originally a driveway, is restored through glazing, becoming, in a sense, a service station for food. The vernacular house maintains its original character through the dining court, which formalizes the original yard. A new restaurant addition fills the formerly abrupt void between the two buildings. The elliptical tower addition conjoins the service station and restaurant, becoming a fulcrum of sorts between old and new, fast and slow, food service and consumption.

The site’s history is a narrative of adaptation and changing uses; the current project continues that trajectory. Through the devices of restoration, rehabilitation, urban infill, and adaptive use, the project returns three historic buildings closely to their original characters while adapting them to new uses and engaging the urban context.

Awards:

2011 Dade Heritage Trust Award

Photographs by Robin Hill.