• On the ocean front in the heart of South Beach.
• An incredible choice of rooms featuring luxurious furnishing and state of the art technology.
• Shore Club is home to Nobu, the world renowned Japanese restaurant.
• Leisure facilities include a well appointed gym, an 8000 sq ft rooftop spa and an Olympic sized infinity pool.
The Whole Story
In the minimalist architectural franchise of early '90s London, John Pawson was the monk, Claudio Silvestrin the artist, and David Chipperfield the artisan. Chipperfield came to prominence in the late 1980s with his design for Equipment shirt shops. They were a revolution in retail. The concept was magnificently, almost ludicrously simple, Equipment sold silk shirts in different colours; nothing else. Chipperfield's shops were beautifully detailed boxes - immaculately thought-through containers in which nothing would interfere with the theatre of the shirts. Their success led to other high-profile commissions such as the home of photographer Nick Knight, and it was almost inevitable that Chipperfield would one day apply his practical minimalism to the design of a hotel.
So it was that in the late 1990s he began work on the Shore Club - at 325 rooms, one of the most ambitious South Beach hotel projects to date. Just one block down from the Delano, the Shore Club merged two existing beach front properties - the 1949 Shore Club and the 1939 Sharalton - with a brand new, purpose-built tower. Expectations were high. Thus far the hippification of South Beach had been largely about the renovation of existing properties. This was something different, and the Shore Club enjoyed a lot of pre-opening hype, fuelled by a tantalizing series of opening-soon teasers placed by the proprietors in all the right magazines. The Shore Club was the concrete and glass equivalent of a Hollywood blockbuster - a lot of money and reputation were riding on its eventual box office.
Chipperfield's design approach was not too dissimilar from his Equipment shops - a pared-down palette of grey terrazzo floors, white walls and white fabrics accented by the odd flash of colour. All lines were strictly architectural - pure verticals or horizontals, no curves. The only relief from the discipline came from the cone-shaped aluminium lampshades anodized in funky 1950s cocktail-shaker colours like emerald green, gold and purple. It was a bold and uncompromising scheme that united the entire hotel as one expanse. Its minimal signature was popular with hard-core architects and designers; everyone else hated it. Not that the rooms were uncomfortable - quite the opposite. They were, and still are, loaded with the latest high-tech options, as well as more old-fashioned creature comforts such as plenty of closet space and enormous bathrooms.
It's just that it was all so pared-down that any chance of ambience was eliminated. Word got out that the Shore Club was 'like checking in to a hospital' or 'booking a room in an office building'.
To save a sinking ship, the proprietors called in Ian Schrager, impresario of the nearby Delano. His approach was clever and economical. He too saw there was nothing wrong with the rooms, so instead focused on the public areas. The lobby, the bars and the restaurants were all given the colour and character they had previously lacked. In some cases this meant nothing more than a curtain here, or a bold slap of majorelle blue paint there. Other spaces like the Redroom in the Sky Bar were complete reinventions.
Three decades after Schrager and his partner Steve Rubell came to international prominence with their legendary nightclub Studio 54, Schrager has lost none of his talent for creating a buzz. In fact the Shore Club now has more buzz than any other venue in Miami.
And this time he didn't even need Philippe Starck to help him. The whole of the ground floor leading all the way to the beach has been turned into one seamless nocturnal playzone for grown-ups. Under every potted tree and around each column, there's a quirky, funky, but also cosy collection of stools, chairs, couches and tables. The lighting is low, with a few thousand candles; the music is seductively eclectic; and the design is a mix of every ethnic style that has ever contributed to the culture of chilling out – Greek taverna stools, Moroccan daybeds, Rajasthani palace chairs, Arabic tea trays, African tribal stools (in pink plastic no less), and of course cushions, cushions and more cushions in Hare Krishna colours.
The Rooms
309 outstandingly appointed hotel rooms and 70 suites.
Standard Rooms
Features include steam showers, luxury designer bath products, technology suite including flat-screen television and on-demand movies, and cordless phone with wireless high speed internet access.
Superior Room
Extra features include imported Mexican sandstone bathrooms with wet rooms ensconced in glass.
Deluxe Room
Slightly larger than Superior Rooms with Mexican sandstone bathrooms and city views.
Ocean Front Room
These 400 sq ft rooms enjoy spectacular views of South Beach and the Atlantic Ocean beyond.
The hotel also has 70 suites, 7 private bungalows a penthouse and a beach house which are available on request.