Contemporary art museum tops off in Miami’s Design District

An aerial of construction at the Institute of Contemporary Art (Inset: ICA Director Ellen Salpeter)
An aerial of construction at the Institute of Contemporary Art (Inset: ICA Director Ellen Salpeter)

Roughly seven months after breaking ground, construction workers have just finished pouring the top floor of Miami’s new Institute of Contemporary Art.

The three-story building with double-height ceilings is now on track for a late 2017 opening, according to an announcement from the museum.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Workers will soon begin building out the 37,500 square feet of interior space, which includes 20,000 square feet of adjustable galleries, along with the 15,000-square-foot outdoor sculpture garden.

Both the land and funds needed to build the museum came from gifts: Craig Robin’s Miami Design District Associates donated about 28,125 square feet of land for the development at 53 Northeast 41st Street and 61 Northeast 41st Street, while automobile barons Norman and Irma Braman gave the museum a capital gift to undertake its project.

The museum, which will be Spain’s Aranguren & Gallegos Arquitectos’ first project in the United States, is meant to be a cultural hub for the Design District, which is mostly known as a neighborhood of luxury retailers. The Institute of Contemporary Art is currently operating out of the nearby Moore Building. — Sean Stewart-Muniz