The installations at Design Miami are always one of the fair’s main attractions. From specially commissioned structures that adorn designated areas of the fair grounds to the immersive exhibitions themselves, there is no lack of dramatic environments on site.
One highlight of this year’s fair, which takes up residence in Miami’s South Beach in early December, is an interactive setting entitled ‘Belong. Here. Now’, brought to life by Airbnb. Created with the Chicago-based architecture and design firm, Design With Company, the space will serve as a platform for visitors to come in and move around its modular components as they wish. It will also serve as a venue for a roster of creative talents, who will take up residency during the week.
Aesthetically, the installation is a playful fusion of traditional architectural elements and other familiar motifs. The components will be easily movable so that visitors can leave their own mark on the playful surroundings. 'We’re thinking of them as a series of nested rings. Each begins as a primitive shape: a triangle, a square, a circle, etc,' explains the duo. 'They are meant to look like winding lines that dance between the columns [and] offer basic variations for ways that people can relate together in the space.They provide a seemingly infinite variety of configurations for people to interact in new and unexpected ways.'
'A lot of our work looks at the intersection of narrative and architecture, or how physical space and storytelling collide,' says Stewart Hicks, who co-founded Design With Company together with Allison Newmeyer. 'Over the years, Airbnb has become a platform that, among other things, demonstrates how people live today and how they relate to their physical spaces.'
With a global mix of talents ranging from performance art and music to illustration and photography all in the cards, the residency is set to fruit all kinds of memorable moments.
'The installation is designed for people to experience the unexpected, inviting guests to come in with a sense of discovery and leave inspired,' says says Jonathan Mildenhall, Chief Marketing Officer of Airbnb. 'Belong. Here. Now. speaks to Airbnb’s mission to create spaces where people can belong anywhere.'
The environment is a playful fusion of traditional architectural elements and other familiar motifs
The installation will also serve as a venue for a roster of creative talents from around the world, who will take up residency during the week
INFORMATION
’Belong. Here. Now’ will be on view opposite the entrance to Design Miami from 2-6 December
ADDRESS
Meridian Ave & 19th Street,
South Beach
Miami
-
Olfactory Art Keller: the New York gallery exhibiting the smell of vintage perfume, blossoming lilacs and last night’s shameOlfactory Art Keller is a Manhattan-based gallery space dedicated to exhibiting scent as art. Founder Dr Andreas Keller speaks with Lara Johnson-Wheeler about the project, which doesn’t shy away from the ‘unpleasant’
-
Explore a barn conversion with a difference on the Isle of WightGianni Botsford Architects' barn conversion transforms two old farm buildings into an atmospheric residence and artistic retreat, The Old Byre
-
Audi launches AUDI, a China-only sub-brand, with a handsome new EV conceptThe AUDI E previews a new range of China-specific electric vehicles from the German carmaker’s new local sub-brand
-
Design Miami 2022: highlights from the fair and around townDesign Miami 2022 (30 November – 4 December) aims at ‘rebooting the roots of our relationship with nature and collective structures, ecospheres, and urban contexts’
-
Nendo’s collaborations with Kyoto artisans go on view in New York‘Nendo sees Kyoto’ is on view at Friedman Benda (until 15 October 2022), showcasing the design studio's collaboration with six artisans specialised in ancient Japanese crafts
-
Italian craftsmanship comes to Los Angeles in this eclectic Venice Canals apartmentBoffi Los Angeles celebrates a juxtaposition of texture throughout a waterside bolthole
-
Design Miami/Basel 2022 explores the Golden AgeDesign Miami/Basel 2022, led by curatorial director Maria Cristina Didero, offers a positive spin after the unprecedented times of the pandemic, and looks at the history and spirit of design
-
Kvadrat’s flagship New York showrooms encompass colourful design codesIndustrial designer Jonathan Olivares and architect Vincent Van Duysen have worked with Danish textile brand Kvadrat on the vast new space, also featuring furniture by Moroso
-
What to see at New York Design Week 2022Discover Wallpaper’s highlights from New York Design Week 2022 (10 – 20 May 2022): the fairs, exhibitions and design openings to discover
-
Colour defines LA ceramics studio and showroom of Bari ZipersteinStep inside the multifunctional ceramics studio, office and showroom of designer and artist Bari Ziperstein, designed by local firm Foss Hildreth
-
Design for Ukraine: Bocci and Design Miami join forces to raise fundsThe online sale of iconic Bocci pieces will benefit GlobalGiving’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, providing urgently needed humanitarian aid
