Until Hurricane Irma hit on September 10, the most striking aspect of the Grove at Grand Bay in picturesque Coconut Grove, south of Miami’s downtown, was the unconventional twisting form of the two condominium towers. Now attention is focused on how well the pair (among others) survived 100-mile-an-hour winds and a 4-foot storm surge. “Overall, the two structures did extremely well—including their hurricane-impact glass,” reports Jason Gilg, senior development manager with the project’s Miami-based developer, Terra.
With its design, the Danish firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) jettisoned the typical rectilinear high-rise and a straightforward, gridded plan. Instead, the firm conceived of two 20-story residential buildings of reinforced concrete where floor plates rotate as they rise from the second to the 17th level, capturing the views of Biscayne Bay. The tight three-acre site on which a hotel once stood posed a challenge to BIG: only the short end of the property faces the ocean, and zoning restrictions affect building height and setbacks. The answer was to place the 99 luxury apartments in twin towers.
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