Henrietta Thompson 31 March 2017 • 3:45p The Telegraph
With 95 per cent of the apartments in the inaugural Porsche Design Tower already sold, any new prospective buyers will have to be quick off the mark. Especially if they want to have any hope of parking a supercar (or 11) in the remaining 19,403 sq ft penthouse.
It’s no surprise that the unmistakable new landmark on Miami’s skyline, overlooking Sunny Isles Beach, would cause a stir. As Porsche Design’s first foray into residential real estate, indeed its first architectural project at all, the highly anticipated luxury high rise includes 132 apartments over 60 storeys, with an estimated sellout of $840 million.
From carbon fibre kitchens (with gull wing doors) to any number of astonishing over-the-top amenities such as plunge pools, cigar decks and golf simulators, the condominiums redefine the concept of "the bachelor pad" through the integration of seriously show-off technology and Porsche Design detailing at every turn.
Porsche Design Tower Miami
Initially proposed to Porsche by hot-shot Florida developer Gil Dezer, whose branded real estate portfolio also includes six Trump towers and Residences by Armani/Casa along the same ocean-fronted stretch of Sunny Isles, the tower has been in on the digital drawing board since 2011. Put on pause temporarily by the financial crisis, it has also taken some time to design, engineer, test and perfect the building’s most unique (and truly flashy) feature: The Dezervator.
The Dezervator is an automobile lift system that stands at the core of the tower, which can be seen from the outside through a series of cut-outs in the architecture. Patented and – says Porsche – revolutionary, the drive-in lift is able to whisk residents and their cars up to their apartments, where the cars can remain on show "as if a work of art" behind glass at the centre of the building.
Porsche Design Tower Miami
The lift was an enormous challenge for Porsche’s designers and engineers, says Jan Becker, CEO of Porsche Design Group.
“It was the unknown factor – would it work out the way we imagined? It’s not only about the engineering; we had a lot of trust that we could do this technically. It’s about code. It’s about safety. It’s about legal requirements. And the biggest challenge was the fact that we wanted people to stay in the car. It’s a different story if you just put your car in and it disappears and you travel via a separate lift. But if you’re in the car, it ups the stakes.”
But Dezer was super persistent, and Porsche Design was persistent. And between them, they made it work. They even built a test tower in Chicago to trial it. Now they have a lift that can carry not just the weight of a superlight Porsche and its driver, but also the heaviest of autos, the Rolls Royce, with four passengers, a minimum of about three and a half tons.
“We have to be aware that there will be many people in this building who will drive other cars,” concedes Roland Heiler, MD at Porsche Design Studios. “You can’t tell them, oh, you can only get in here with a Porsche…”
Gym at the Porsche Design Tower Miami
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