See the South Beach Lifeguard Towers in a New Light in Tommy Kwak’s Book 

It was 1995 when William Lane Architect was commissioned to design five lifeguard towers to replace the ones in South Beach that had been destroyed by Hurricane Andrew. The colorful, art deco–influenced structures were popular, yet it was another 20 years before the city came back to the Miami Beach–based firm to create six prototypes to replace most of the lifeguard towers serving the 8 1/2 mile stretch of Atlantic Ocean coastline.

It was 2019 when photographer Tommy Kwak traveled from his home in Montclair, New Jersey, to Miami Beach and first saw the pink tower on 17th Street—the aha moment that sparked his project to catalog all 38 towers and turn them into a book. “I was captivated by its electric palette and solitary form in the early morning light. I then photographed a few more towers and was hooked,” says Kwak, whose Palm series was available for the first time as NFTs at Art Basel in Switzerland last month. “My goal was to celebrate a kind of ephemeral beauty and, at the same time, transform the entities into more graphic forms,” he says of the images he took during three trips over three years, each shoot starting before 6AM and stretching into the evenings. “My ideal conditions were on days that were overcast and drizzly, so the backdrop of sea and sky were as minimal as possible for the towers to stand out. Plus there were less people around in light rain.”

On Kickstarter, Kwak raised the $16,000 needed to enable Brooklyn-based Blurring Books to publish the hardcover, due out this fall. In the meantime, limited-edition prints are available through Clic.

BHDM Design Breathes New Life into the Novotel Miami Brickell Hotel

2021 Best of Year Winner for Budget Hotel

The lobby and lounges at this existing hotel had good bones—the ceilings were 19 feet, the windows floor-to-ceiling. But the 4,500 square feet of public spaces lacked “personality and a sense of narrative,” notes principal and creative director Dan Mazzarini of BHDM Design, who quickly, and inexpensively ($173 per square foot to be exact), made amends.

Conceiving of a “sun, sand, surf” theme, he and his team marshalled a peachy palette along with furnishings in rounded shapes that have a “work/live/play vibe.” Costs were kept down with off-the-shelf pieces from the likes of Arteriors, Blu Dot, Frontgate, and Restoration Hardware. Indoor/outdoor chairs resemble rattan but are made of sturdy powder-coated metal, polyamide, and acrylic.

Custom designs came into play, too, such as the cerused-oak bar screen that was inspired by South Beach lifeguard stands but functions as built-in shelving. Likewise, in the textile department, custom-printed ombre sheeting adds softness at windows and in a nook off a lobby entrance, while the underside of the rooftop lounge awning has been printed with a palm-leaf pattern. As for the lobby’s whimsical 12-foot trees mimicking local flora, they’re made of white canvas. Uplit at night, they cast dramatic frondlike shadows across the ceiling. By day, they require no watering—just an occasional dusting.

BHDM Design: Dan Mazzarini; Jennifer Rosenthal