glass tile
plate glass
ribbon windows
Flourishes
space age elements
cutouts
cheeseholes
Structure
concrete canopies
floating stairs
signage
What makes it MiMo?
Glass Mosaic Tile
This durable material was first used on the tall panels of the Eden Roc's western facade (pictured here). The dark green tiles at the base discretely bleed into a lighter shade as the mosaics extend vertically.
Most glass tile used in MiMo architecture was imported from Italy. The Eden Roc's mosaic pattern uses contemporary, small squares, but patterned Spanish-style tiles were also used on floors and in courtyards. Tile's durability and affordability made it a useful material.
Mosaic tile is also used on the side of the Bacardi building on the mainland of Miami along Biscayne Boulevard.
Plate Glass
The use of sprawling sheets of glass was borrowed from the German Bauhaus movement. Art Deco buildings of the 1930s incorporated glass windows into storefronts and office buildings, but it wasn't until the 1950s that glass facades were used homes and hotels.
Plate glass enhanced the geometric shape of MiMo buildings and complemented Miami's sunny climate. Large expanses of glass on the outside of buildings allowed light inside without transmitting much heat, and didn't require paint.
Glass was considered the ultimate modern material, which explains architects' generous use of it in an age marked by progressive optimism.
Ribbon Windows
Long expanses of horizontal windows were borrowed from the International Style, an pre-WWII Modernist architecture movement that privileged volume over mass and shunned extraneous ornamentation.
Ribbon windows can be seen on the curved facade of the Fontainebleau, on office buildings and institutional buildings that do not have load-bearing walls. This is a picture of ribbon windows above the concrete canopy driveway at the Shelbourne Hotel on South Beach.