Carie Penabad-MDO Building

1
MDO Building
- Location 890 SW 84 Avenue. Miami, FL 33144
Cure-Penabad, Adib-Cure, Carie-Penabad,
Architecture-Miami, Latinamerican-Architecture,
Vernacularology, Architecture-University-Miami-sch
ool, AIA-MIAMI, MDO-Building
2
The new MDO building is situated along southwest
84th Street, one lot south of Tamiami Trail. Its
immediate context is defined by a myriad of strip
shopping malls and speculative office buildings
set hundreds of feet from the main street to
accommodate expansive surface parking lots. The
result is a cacophony of structures that is
emblematic of Miamis suburban landscape.
Cure-Penabad, Adib-Cure, Carie-Penabad,
Architecture-Miami, Latinamerican-Architecture,
Vernacularology, Architecture-University-Miami-sch
ool, AIA-MIAMI, MDO-Building
3
In addition, we were interested in engaging a
real and not an idealized Miami Main Street with
the aim of confronting the aesthetic challenge of
working within the quotidian commercial
landscape, recomposing and transforming the
elements of Miamis commercial vernacular
including signage, shopfronts, the suburban lawn
and even the painted asphalt that covers most of
the citys streets.
Cure-Penabad, Adib-Cure, Carie-Penabad,
Architecture-Miami, Latinamerican-Architecture,
Vernacularology, Architecture-University-Miami-sch
ool, AIA-MIAMI, MDO-Building
4
The final project reverses the typical urban
patterns of the area by pressing the building
close to the street and placing the surface
parking lot along the rear of the property. 
Cure-Penabad, Adib-Cure, Carie-Penabad,
Architecture-Miami, Latinamerican-Architecture,
Vernacularology, Architecture-University-Miami-sch
ool, AIA-MIAMI, MDO-Building
5
Moreover, it sets itself in sharp contrast to its
immediate neighbors by developing an
architectural language of abstraction and
restraint- where a few important elements, such
as the recessed entry with its shopfront window
are set within large expanses of mute stuccoed
walls that house nearly five thousand mens suits
within.
Cure-Penabad, Adib-Cure, Carie-Penabad,
Architecture-Miami, Latinamerican-Architecture,
Vernacularology, Architecture-University-Miami-sch
ool, AIA-MIAMI, MDO-Building
6
The main double-volume, retail space is the
central focus of the building. Its thickened
walls are lined with stacked rows of merchandise
and its ceiling is composed of modified
pre-fabricated double tees.
Cure-Penabad, Adib-Cure, Carie-Penabad,
Architecture-Miami, Latinamerican-Architecture,
Vernacularology, Architecture-University-Miami-sch
ool, AIA-MIAMI, MDO-Building
7
The heightened volume is an unexpected spatial
experience flooded with natural light and in
direct opposition to the cavernous,
artificially-lit interiors, characteristic of the
adjacent strip malls and office parks.
Cure-Penabad, Adib-Cure, Carie-Penabad,
Architecture-Miami, Latinamerican-Architecture,
Vernacularology, Architecture-University-Miami-sch
ool, AIA-MIAMI, MDO-Building