Style-conscious Miami Beach has decided that even its humble bus shelters need an updated look.
So, the city government has hired a bus-shelter design team that includes Pininfarina, an Italian firm famous for designing Ferraris.
The city of Miami Beach named Fort Lauderdale-based Acai Associates as the architect for the bus-shelter project, and Acai hired Pininfarina as designer.
Pininfarina has designed about 200 Ferrari models, including some that sell at seven-figure prices.
Sotheby’s has listed for sale a 2015 Ferrari designed by Pininfarina with a $3 million asking price.
Miami Beach is working with a smaller budget to install updated bus shelters around town.
The city expects to spend about $500,000 to procure as many as 300 new bus shelters. Construction is scheduled to start in 2019.
The Pininfarina-designed bus shelters will have colored roof panels that produce kaleidoscopic light patterns on sunny days.
The new shelters also will be equipped with arrival-time displays and solar panels that produce power for shelter lighting at night. [Miami Herald] – Mike Seemuth