Bernardo Fort-Brescia and Laurinda Hope Spear
Bernardo Fort-Brescia and Laurinda Hope Spear
Founders and principals at Arquitectonica
Of all the architecture firms in the Miami area, few have made a mark on the region’s skyline like Arquitectonica, which Bernardo Fort-Brescia and Laurinda Hope Spear co-founded in Miami in 1977.
Known locally for buildings such as the Atlantis Condominium and the Miami-Dade Arena, the firm has a slew of commercial projects, condos, a museum and even a park and soccer stadium under construction or planned in Miami.
Arquitectonica is currently working on several high-end condominium projects there, including The Standard Residences, a 228-unit luxe project operated by The Standard hotel brand in Midtown; the 75-story, 360-unit Baccarat Residences tower in Brickell; the 35-story, 300-unit Lofty Brickell; the 329-unit, nine-story NoMad Residences in Wynwood; and the 70-story, 189-unit Residences at 1428 Brickell.
“We are always thinking of the factors that make a building interesting, yet viable,” Fort-Brescia told Commercial Observer this winter. “We begin with the rational — always — because architecture has a rational side, a logical side, a functional side. And it has an intuitive side, a more artistic side. We always balance between them. We were not interested in being ‘paper architects’ who draw designs but never see the building. We want to build.”
One of Arquitectonica’s most notable South Florida projects is a new Miami terminal for MSC Cruises, which will be North America’s largest commercial cruise terminal when it’s complete. The $350 million project will rise four stories and include four separate boarding decks, enough to accommodate 36,000 passengers daily and up to three separate ships simultaneously. MSC broke ground a year ago on the project, which is set to be complete by the end of 2023.
Another landmark project in the pipeline is Miami Freedom Park and its accompanying 25,000-seat soccer stadium, which will rise on the site of a city-owned golf course near Miami International Airport. David Beckham, Jorge Mas and Jose Mas are developing the project for their Major League Soccer team, Inter Miami CF. The stadium complex is set to include a 58-acre public park, 750-room hotel, underground parking, office space and retail. —R.B.R.
