Rubell Family Collection + Residence

Miami, Florida | 2005

This unusual adaptive reuse project transformed a 30,000 SF warehouse formerly used as a Drug Enforcement Agency impoundment facility into a public museum and a new 4,700 SF residence for a family of art collectors, as well as a public/private research library and a new art storage facility. Located in Miami in the Wynwood Arts District, the Rubell Family Collection + Residence acted first as catalyst and then as anchor for its community.

Spanning an urban block, and bordered by commercial and residential streets within a transitional neighborhood, the constrained site required that the residence be very carefully integrated into and around the existing building. Entered through a sculpture court at the rear of the site and partially impacted into the warehouse volume, the residence emerges into its own private garden as a glazed pavilion.

Facilities which marry a private residence with a public museum are rare. The architect worked closely with the client to address the complicated nuances of a public-private complex. All spaces within the project, from the client’s house, to the galleries, to the library, to the transition spaces between, were understood to be both intensely private and necessarily externalized. The design sought to reflect that tension.

Awards:

2019 AIA Miami Honor Award /Built

Photographs by Robin Hill