While hotel occupancies are up, it’s been a rough go of it for
Florida’s lodging industry of late. But a few new hotels are due to open
on Miami Beach, and they all have one thing in common: Luigi Vitalini. The
Italian-born architect moved to Miami as a teenager and studied at the
University of Miami. He operates VC Architects in Coral Gables with
partner Pablo Corazzini, and has designed the already-open Sense Hotel,
along with the soon-to-open Prime Hotel and Villa Italia, which will
open in the fall. The hotels are low-scale, between 14 and 18 rooms
each. Vitalini spoke with The Real Deal about his projects and
the state of design in Miami.  

How does Miami hotel design compare with New York?
I do
think a lot of the hotels that we’ve been getting here in Miami are
starting to become comparable, in terms of creativity, with some of the
New York hotels. They’re starting to do a lot of design, more quirky
than in New York. I think in Miami with the sun and the beaches you can
get a little more playful in general. [more]

Starchitect Frank Williams, known for his geometric-style Manhattan skyscrapers and international influence, has died at age 73. Williams made a notable impact on the New York City skyline, helping create over 20 buildings in the city, many of which are visible from Central Park, according to the New York Times. His portfolio includes the 57-story Trump Palace at 200 East 69th Street on the corner of Third Avenue, the tallest building on the Upper East Side, the Four Seasons at 57 East 57th Street and the 55-story W hotel in Times Square. Even so, Williams told The Real Deal in 2007 that he enjoyed spending time under the radar. “He’s a very talented architect who doesn’t like bragging about his work even though he should,” Donald Trump told The Real Deal at the time.

Architects do more than design shiny new buildings. David Rockwell can vouch for that. His firm, the Rockwell Group — which has designed the Elinor
Bunin-Munroe Film Center at Lincoln Center, the W New York and the W
Union Square — has taken a special interest in playgrounds. Working
pro bono, the company, which has an office at 5 Union Square West as well as in Madrid and Dubai, designed
Imagination Playground in Burling Slip, an unstructured free-play play
space in Lower Manhattan, featuring a collection of loose parts like
wheelbarrows, rolling carts and molded foam blocks, meant to encourage
kids to play creatively. The project broke ground this spring. A
portable version, known as “Imagination Playground in a Box,” will be
introduced in other cities around the country. The veteran architect
also acted as production designer for the revamped Academy Awards show
this year. Rockwell spoke with The Real Deal about his firm’s latest projects. [more]