Images courtesy Visiondivision.

Miami tends to have a reputation for glitz and bombast, whether from the need to impress at the beach, or stemming from the city’s role as a financial and cultural center for Latin America. Miami Sun, a new project from Swedish design duo Visiondivision, capitalizes on this reputation with a proposal for a landmark in Bayfront Park, adjacent to downtown.

Miami Sun is exactly what its name suggests: a giant artificial sun in the middle of the harbor. This installation is meant to attract tourists and residents alike with vibrant digital sunsets, and at night, by turning into a giant moon. Lit from within by solar-powered lights, Miami Sun changes color throughout the day, replicating solar effects while screening viewers from ultraviolet waves.

Behind the Sun’s gridded façade, visitors gamble at a multistory casino topped by an observation deck. Reached by small boats, the Sun aims to be a major attraction for cruise ship passengers as, in addition to the casino, a large pool extends between the Sun and Bayfront Park, peppered with an idyllic archipelago. You may not get a tan from Miami Sun, but you will feel the architectural heat. See below for more images.

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Ah, the Roaring Twenties, that decadent period when people tossed tradition out the window and really started living it up. Opulent parties, smokey jazz clubs, subterranean speakeasies—if only we could have been there! The auto, radio, and movie industries were flourishing; the literary world was on fire; and the fashion industry was going bonkers (what’s more fabulous than a slinky flapper dress?). Architecture was also having a glorious moment. Art Deco emerged as the era’s defining style, characterized by bold geometries and dramatic flourishes. It extended into the 1930s and ’40s and then faded after World War II.

Tomorrow, the latest film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, set in 1922, debuts in theaters. To celebrate, we’ve rounded up 15 magnificent examples of Art Deco design around the globe. Click through to see them all!

(Top): Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Joel Edgerton from the new film, “The Great Gatsby.” (Above) Grand ballroom from the film. Photos: Warner Bros. via Architectural Digest 

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Have you ever wondered what major coastal cities across the world will look like if the worst of climate change predictions come true? So did Nickolay Lamm, a 24-year-old researcher and artist who saw The New York Times‘s “What Could Disappear,” a series of interactive maps that depicted the effects of rising sea levels from climate change. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, global mean sea level has risen between 4 to 8 inches over the past century, and will continue rising between 8 inches and 6.6 feet by 2100.

Having only seen the over-exaggerated imagery of blockbuster Hollywood disaster movies, Lamm wanted to bring The NYT‘s maps to life with GIFs, in order to give a more accurate portrayal of  what our world will look like if necessary measures are not taken to combat climate change.

Meticulously assembled with computer software and an infinite supply of coffee, Lamm’s GIFs show 4 major USA metropolitan areas inundated with 5, 12, and 25 ft of water respectively. Click through to see the devastation unfold before your eyes!

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Yesterday, Curbed published a trove of renderings of Zaha Hadid’s hotly anticipated, hush-hush One Thousand Museum condo tower in Miami. And, readers: IT HAS A HELIPAD. The Prizker Prize-winning starchitect is clearly pulling out all the stops for her first tower in the Western Hemisphere. The sci-fi ‘scraper has a sleek exoskeleton, making it look like something out of the Alien movies, plus multiple pools, a cigar lounge, a super-swank amenity deck, cabanas(!), and countless other ridiculous luxuries. Basically, a James Bond villain needs to live here. Click through to see more images, and head over to Curbed Miami for all the renderings and floor plans!

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Landscaping is the butt of many an undergraduate architecture student joke. But what do undergrads know about anything, right? At its best,  landscaping melds structure and context, ensuring that the best attributes of the site — or the sense of “place,” if you prefer — are preserved while still accommodating the new building. This relationship can be very literal (i.e. a “green-lawned” building) or more general, functioning in more subtle ways (i,e, a park). In both senses, landscaping — in which we include gardens and parks — is an essential component to the making of architecture.

The finalists for the Architizer A+ “Landscaping” and “Parks/Pavilions” awards make a great case for the indispensability of landscape design. Click through to see them all!

(Psst. You’ve got just 2 days left to vote for your favorites! Head over to the Awards site to vote now.) 

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John Hancock Chicago construction, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, Chicago, IL, 1967

When it comes to architecture photography, Ezra Stoller is the standard-bearer. The Chicago-born visionary not only produced some of the most exciting, beautiful photographs of mid-century architecture — bringing modernism to the masses — but his iconic images continue to define the public perception of such structures as Saarinen’s TWA Terminal, Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum.

But Stoller shot more than just buildings. A new exhibition, ”Beyond Architecture,” which runs through March 2 at the Yossi Milo Gallery in New York City, highlights the photographer’s rarely seen images of industry, technology, transportation, and working-class Americans. These photographs, like Stoller’s architectural work, capture the vitality, excitement, danger, and struggles of post-war, industrial America and urban life. But they also offer a glimpse of an America that has all but vanished today. Not in New York City? We’ve got a selection of some of these gorgeous photos below. Click through to see them all!

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By Grace Ehlers

Miami’s coolest boutique just got a spiffy makeover! Alchemist’s 1109 Lincoln Road store, a retail mecca on the bottom floor of Herzog & de Meuron’s famed parking garage, re-opened in December, and the renovations, by Rene Gonzalez Architect, look amazing, combining South Beach beer-cooler culture with high-end fashion. Read more!

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Images courtesy of Bing Maps/Jason Schmidt

If at first you don’t succeed, try try again. For Zaha Hadid, it’s more like if New York says no, take over Miami! After losing out to Norman Foster to build what would be her first American high-rise  in Midtown Manhattan, Hadid has instead been asked to build one in Miami. There is no design yet, but the building’s location is rumored to be at 1000 Biscayne Boulevard on Miami’s waterfront Museum Park. While details are extremely slim, developers say the design will be unveiled early next year. This will not only be Hadid’s first American skyscraper, but also her first in the entire Western Hemisphere. It’s about time!

[via archpaper]

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The Orange County Center in Goshen, New York, faced demolition this year.

Copycat architecture, greedy developers, threatened buildings, student protests: 2012 definitely had its share of architecture controversies. But really, with all the egos involved is that really surprising? From Zaha Hadid’s faulty Olympic swimming pool to Wolf D. Prix’s screed against the Venice Architecture Biennale, here are the top 10 scandals that shook the design world this year. Click through to see them all!

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Only a GIF can truly capture the most captivating moments from Design Miami. That’s why we’ve made five!  Above is Booo’s Surface Tension Lamp (by FRONT), a light fixture that blows a continuous stream of incandescent bubbles which stopped visitors in their tracks and created a permanently hypnotized crowd surrounding the booth. Click through to see the rest of the “moving” projects we saw this year!

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