ARCA Unveils Wynwood, Miami Showroom by Esrawe Studio and SUPERFLEX
The Wynwood neighborhood in Miami, Florida, a creative enclave known for its vibrant street art, has a new eye-catching addition—ARCA‘s latest material warehouse designed by Esrawe Studio, which collaborated with Danish art group SUPERFLEX on the façade. The 13,100-square-foot space, set to open in early November, beckons creatives to explore the building’s duality, peruse premium materials, including those made from rare natural stone, and take in exhibitions on display.
ARCA Wynwood reflects the culture of the brand and the city through its design, similar to ARCA’s showroom in Guadalajara, Mexico, which doubles as an art venue. But rather than build its newest location from the ground up, the design team, led once again by Héctor Esrawe, opted to transform an existing structure into a work of art (the multi-colored façade is titled “Like A Force of Nature”). “We spent almost eight months finding the right location,” says Jose Fernandez, CEO of ARCA USA, who noted that the locale is a bit removed from the main street, adding intrigue. “We needed to be in a neighborhood that spoke to our values and philosophy as a company, and Wynwood fit in perfectly.”
Viewing the structure as a blank slate, Esrawe’s team created a minimalist, gallery-like interior with a neutral palette to spotlight ARCA’s carefully-sourced materials. “In Miami, we have a building we mostly adapted to meet our needs,” says Esrawe. “The building became a canvas for us to express an intention.” With the goal of turning the exterior into a permanent art piece, the designer collaborated with SUPERFLEX to create a ceramic tile that would lend itself to a dynamic visual experience.
The resulting façade offers a striking narrative on the relationship between currency and color, reflecting a palette inspired by tones found in Mexican pesos. “We as artists always work in this kind of space of criticality—it’s interesting to examine the tension between the rigid box of a building and its fluid outside, and the duality of Mexican pesos in Miami,” says Jakob Fenger, who founded SUPERFLEX in 1993 with Bjørnstjerne Christiansen and Rasmus Nielsen. The artists relied on a recurring Fibonacci mathematic sequence of numbers to create a flickering effect using the custom tile, enabling viewers to have a different experience every time they approach the building. “Wynwood is a very demanding area… We needed to create a different kind of attention than the ordinary,” adds Fenger. ARCA Wynwood, with its mesmerizing façade and curated interiors, is anything but ordinary.
The warehouse, located at 260 NW 27 Street, also will serve as the base for the brand’s U.S. operations.
