Checking in on Construction at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami

July 11, 2016

Photos by Sean Mccaughan.

As Miami’s artsy types were carousing and cocktailing (Vodka open bar. It does the job) at the summer exhibition opening of the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami in the Design District’s Moore Building this Friday night, construction had stopped for the day at the ICA’s future home one block to the west and another block north. Risking showing up to the party with a dusty pair of loafers, I headed over to the construction site first to see its progress.

The three floor museum, built in concrete, has reached its full height, with high ceilings, and a lobby area that will look out onto the rear sculpture garden. Out front, the street-facing facade of the main block is windowless above the first floor, and all windows on the garden side. Just like the De La Cruz Collection building next door, the ICA galleries are exposed to the north, following a very ancient practice in the art world. Northern light (at least in the northern hemisphere) is less glaring and more diffused than southern.