The leading authority for the Architecture & Design community
March 31, 2021
Text: Colleen Curry
Esrawe Studio and Superflex Collaborate on a Colorful Façade
Color and meaning, design and art—all are on display outside a Miami showroom by Mexico’s Esrawe Studio and Denmark’s Superflex. Fifteen architects, artists, and designers led by Héctor Esrawe assembled the facade of 30,000 ceramic tiles in 12 matte glazes.
The Making of Arca Wynwood Design Center
For Arca Wynwood Design Center, an architectural materials showroom and arts center by Esrawe Studio that’s blocks from Miami’s Design District, Héctor Esrawe’s pen-and-paper sketches reveal the two tile shapes—one convex, one concave—he devised to clad two of the building’s elevations. Image courtesy of Héctor Esrawe.He collaborated on the facades with the art collective Superflex, which made a watercolor to demonstrate the alternating pattern of the tile shapes. Image courtesy of Superflex.Superflex then developed a tile palette based on the denominations of pesos from Mexico, where parent company Grupo Arca is based. Photography by Superflex. That was followed by another watercolor proposing a striped color sequence. Photography by Superflex. During the same phase, a final sequence of precise, numbered hues was decided upon. Photography by Superflex. A matte glaze in the colors was applied to prototypes of the facade tiles. Photography by Superflex. The tiles are subsequently aligned in varying widths based on the Fibonacci sequence. Photography by Arca Wynwood.The north and south elevations encompass 6,339 square feet of tile. Photography by César Béjar.The ceramic tiles are adhered using cement and sand mortar. Photography by César Béjar.The 13,000-square-foot Arco Wynwood Design Center, the second showroom Esrawe Studio has designed for Grupo Arca, offers masonry bricks and exotic natural and Italian-fabricated engineered stone as well as space for temporary exhibitions, film screenings, and musical performances. Photography by César Béjar.Echoing the neighborhood’s colorful murals, the project is called Like a Force of Nature, referencing the wavelike illusion of the tiles and a commentary on current global economic and environmental crises. Photography by César Béjar.
