Return to main articleMust See Green American Landmarks
Coming Soon: Cor Tower, Design District, Miami, Florida (projected completion date 2011)
It’s hard to say whether this chic little skyscraper designed by Oppenheim, a Miami-based firm that pursues “hedonistic sensation,” will someday be the greenest building in the country. But it certainly drives home the point that environmentally conscious design and glamorous architecture are strangers no longer. The eye-catching soap-bubble–patterned façade is actually a concrete structural wall that not only supports the building but also provides thermal mass and solar shading to keep it naturally cool. Wind turbines are fetchingly arrayed inside the circular cutouts at the top of the building, and they look more like costume jewelry than an alternative source of electricity. While its 380-foot height won’t break any records, the Cor Tower promises to be a conspicuous—and conspicuously green—presence in the midst of Miami’s low-rise Design District.
