Project: The Swamp Compound

Architecture: TROPICA
Landscape Design: TROPICA 
Interior Design: TROPICA
GC: Biscayne Builders
Landscape Installation: Overland 

Status: Completed
Design: 2020
Build: 2022-2024 

Location: South Miami, FL 

TEXT: The Swamp presented us with an inaccessible and un-buildable PLOT of muck, invasive trees, and dilapitated buildings. However, inherent to this PLOT were also a set of qualities that, once revealed, would direct our entire design process. Our goal was to utilize ONLY what was present on site, rather than introducing a new architectural element or language.

Most challenging to our ability to use the qualities of the PLOT was the site’s designation as a flood zone. The Swamp had been deemed un-buildable for years. The existing, dilapidated, non-flood-compliant structures were all but mandated to be torn down due to the FEMA 50% rule. Re-use was, essentially, not an option.

This law restricted work on the buildings to $20,000 per building permit. In order to renovate and preserve them, we completely changed our typical project delivery process.

We’ve had to engage this project, and permit process with a completely new approach to preserve and expand this old-Florida wilderness and architecture in a suburb. We dramatically restructured our project delivery methods - submitting many different piece-meal versions of drawings, re-think our permit strategy, work with FEMA appraisers, and eventually combine lots and titles to create an occupiable site...

To date, we have applied for 7 consecutive, separate building permits, often
without typical construction drawings, to slowly, legally bring these  buildings back to life. 3 more permits are planned to realize our final vision for the largest building.

Additionally, we were able to combine The Swamp Site with two adjacent residential sites, prepared for new construction. Our office is in the process of executing a complete transformation of this newly combined, but seemingly snake-infested property, which included 54 massive, invasive Australian Pines.

Our design approach was three-fold:

1. Remove invasive plants and clean the lake water to create a native ecosystem to attract birds, pollinators, butterflies, and rejuvenate the natural environment that existed previously.

2. Restore the badly damaged existing buildings, preserving their character, while also increasing their capacity to house much larger programs.

3. Utilize the adjacent buildable sites to provide living spaces around the Swamp Site. Employ a Double-T construction, typically used for industrial parking garages, to reduce costs, link their structural system to the exposed column and beam systems of the existing buildings, and allow for wide-open shared living spaces. 


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