Artefacto scores Coral Gables design approval to build showroom along US 1

Luxury furnishings firm Artefacto received approval from the Coral Gables Design Review Committee for a new showroom along U.S. 1.

Architects Francisco Llado and Robert Moehring

The contemporary building will be built on a vacant property Artefacto CEO Paulo Bacchi owns on South Dixie Highway adjacent to the Collection’s used car showroom. Bacchi’s Haswell Properties LLC paid $2.67 million for the lots at 101 South Dixie Highway in 2011, records show.

Artefacto is currently based nearby at the Shops at Merrick Park. The new building, a 40,000-square-foot, two-story showroom, will be designed by Domo Architecture + Design, principals Francisco Llado and Robert Moehring told The Real Deal. The project received design approval last week for a contemporary structure that twists in both directions of traffic. Behar-Font and Partners is the architect of record.

“We wanted to maximize exposure in both directions,” Moehring said. The second floor is rotated to northbound traffic, while the first floor is rotated to southbound traffic. The South Dixie Highway corridor in Coral Gables/South Miami is seeing an uptick in commercial activity over the past two years, including new mixed-use projects and record sales.

Domo has been working with the Brazilian firm on the project for about eight months, Llado told TRD. Each room in the showroom will be laid out like in a home. “This is going to be innovative. One of the challenges is that a chair would look very small” in a typical showroom, he said. “When you purchase furniture, it’s already to scale.”

A ramp will connect to the loading area on the second floor. Moehring told TRD they plan to incorporate natural materials and green walls in the design.

Last year, TRD and Artefacto partnered to host an intimate discussion about the “global citizen” at a Palazzo Del Sol unit the design firm furnished on Fisher Island. Artefacto and Domo have also worked together in the past, like on the spec home at 4395 Pine Tree Drive, which sold for $19.5 million in December 2015.

Artefacto, which also has U.S. stores in Aventura and Doral, has 12 locations in Brazil, according to its website. Bacchi could not immediately be reached for comment.