Cisneros Group Miami Headquarters / Perkins and Will

Curated by Paula Pintos

Architects: Perkins&Will
Area: 24500 ft²
Year: 2019
Photographs:Robin Hill
Manufacturers: FAKRO, FabriTRAK®, Swisspearl, RENSON, Aluprof, MUHR, PREFA, Xella Multipor
Lead Architects: Elina Cardet
Engineering: TLC Engineering for Architecture

Text description provided by the architects. The new Headquarters for Cisneros Group, a third-generation global media company, was re-imagined as one integrated, creative, and collaborative studio. The space houses the company’s two subsidiaries (Interactive and Real Estate) as well as the Cisneros Foundation and is located on the top floors of the new 2 Miami Central facility, a mixed-use transit hub anchored by the new Virgin Train system. Working closely with the CEO, Adriana Cisneros, the office was designed to be flexible and emphasize wellbeing. These strategies mirror the ambitions of the firm in their nimble business approach. Workplace initiatives include shifting from 100% private office to a 20/80 open plan as well as maximizing both collaboration areas and focused work areas with a 1:12 quiet room ratio.

Balancing the previous design formality, culture, and legacy of the company with a new forward-thinking open environment, the spaces are organized around the Cisneros’ private art collection and its gallery walls. The Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection, a world-class modern art collection is seasonally curated. These rich forms, textures, colors, and patterns create a thought-provoking backdrop to the openwork and amenity areas. The design strategy layered three key aspects: the company’s modern Venezuelan architectural heritage; the optimism of American Mid-Century Design and made-to-last classics; and a global, contemporary workplace attitude: fresh and creative. The elemental and minimally detailed custom millwork help to define the space with simple cantilevered plains and interconnecting volumes.

Cisneros Group Miami Headquarters / Perkins and Will - Interior Photography, Table — © Robin Hill

Refurbishing and reusing all existing modern classic furniture was the starting point for the new furniture selections. Supporting Cisneros’ multi-cultural and multi-generational team, different styles of work are encouraged through a multitude of spaces. Seating choices from collaboration to focused work, including a full real estate library and media screening room are included. The diverse culture and community of the Cisneros Group is celebrated and reinforced by providing a large, comfortable multipurpose staff lounge that completely opens to the interconnecting stair, allowing for town hall meetings or multi-day media sessions.

Meeting the AIA 2030 Commitment, design solutions and operational strategies include high-efficiency plumbing fixtures; low energy consumption for lighting; daylighting controls; comprehensive office waste management plans integrated in custom millwork; promotion of alternative transportation; specification of materials and furniture with EPDs and HPDs, FISP, FSC, and Greenguard Certification - all working towards zero toxicity goals. Wellbeing is promoted by maximizing daylight and the uninterrupted 360° views to city, ocean and sky help to balance circadian rhythms.

Layering in a biophilic narrative, an abstract reference is created to the uniquely dramatic Miami sky and water, as it changes from dawn to dusk, at different times of the year. A series of seven unique “horizon” rooms were designed as quiet, focused work areas, small conference rooms, telephone and wellness rooms. These rooms become an artful, abstract and experiential immersion in a two-tone play of color and light, providing a calm refuge to think, write, and create. Throughout the project, light is conceived as a material, adding an emotional quality to the space.