Designer Robert McKinley is giving Miami Beach a Makeover

Rob McKinley (Photo: tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com)

If you have ever had to wait outside Surf Lodge or Ruschemeyer’s in Montauk for close to an hour, the blame should be put on Rob McKinley. But of course I am only kidding. However there is no denying the fact that wherever this guru of design leads he is followed by legions of stylish trendsetters. Take the latter for instance: what began as a “clubhouse” on the beachfront where McKinley and his friends would go to hang out after surfing has now turned out into one of the hottest destinations for hotel nightlife. So saying that McKinley’s next projects slate in Miami Beach – a 1940’s-style supper club, a Mediterranean brasserie, and a hotel with 164 rooms – which are all going to be unveiled this summer, will be a success that would be smashing is a safe thing to do. Recently the creative director gave an inside scoop to those who sat down with him for an interview.

Ruschemeyer’s in Montauk (Photo: pinterest.com)

The first Joie de Vivre hotel on the East Coast is being headed by you. How did you become involved in it?

It was from the then VP of Design of Commune Hotels and Resorts Audra Tuskes that I heard the news from. Her company is the parent company for Joie de Vivre Hotels. She informed me that they had this property known as The Hall which was situated in Miami’s Art Decp District on 15^th Street and Collins Avenue, and that they would be delighted if I could take a look at it and provide them with my thoughts. And that was what I did, and later on after a week they gave me a call back and said that they needed me to be in charge of the project’s design and creative direction.      

Joie de Vivre hotel on the East Coast (Photo: boutiquehotelnews.com)

Where did you begin?

There was an importance in our understanding that the placement of the hotel was inside the market. Technically, it is a three-star hotel – which is a terminology that I did not like making use of due to it not being the best indication of what anyone who is a guest should expect – but since that was the situation, it needed to not evoke a feeling like a three-star hotel that had the pretence of a five-star hotel. Rather, it had to be a place that was fresh and really fun which was great and wonderful for people who are younger who desired to have an experience of cool Miami, but who were perhaps unable to afford the level that was next.

Tell us about the designs.

A tropical Modernist inspiration was where we started from, pulling from both Miami and Latin America. Whenever I went on a trip, whether it was to Latin America or to the Caribbean, I have discovered local artists who were really amazing who can make from materials that are common really incredible pieces. This was what I wanted to have incorporated into the design. For example, there are these chairs that are beautiful from Colombia that are designed from leftover plastic rope and rebar, woven together in colours that are bright in a manner that assumes bold patterns and shapes.

For the rooms for the guests, we wanted to keep them fresh and clean, not everywhere having carpets wall-to-wall. There were these great floors of hardwood pine which were in the building leftover from the era of the 1930s which you never notice nor see in Florida. So we had the wood refinished and had area rugs installed. For the colour palette, I wanted to have pastels brought back, and headboard details and cool modernist lamps thrown in. Scott Rudin who is my very good friend is a photographer who specializes in these wonderful palm trees shots, some of which look black from the way the light is captured by him. The idea was brought up by us to have his black palm silhouettes printed on plywood, another material which is really common, and make use of them as headboards. I actually focused on using the colours and textures to have fun, but made sure that tropical was how everything was kept – after all it is Miami.

 

What about the spaces in the public?

There was a great challenge die to the historical protection of the building so we had to keep going back-and-forth with the local authorities in the place. However the property’s bones were actually great so we used an approach of restoration. For example, the bar off the lobby possesses this glass of terrazzo martini imprinted on the floor – what is really cool is that the entire floors are original terrazzo – so we had to turn the space into a piano bar with a sort of soul inspiration that was Afro-Latin. We designed it to be driven by music, having the whole room upholstered in this particular fabric that was African wax-print with drums on it – the chairs and the curtains, one crazy print was what we made everything to become. And then we had all the colonial cane chairs brought in, big rattan mirrors which had shapes of palm trees, and sourced a lot of furniture which were vintage from the Paris’ flea market and Normandy. Basically a narrative about this family that had emigrated to Miami from Latin America was made up by us in which they brought their furniture, objects, and arts collections to get the spaces filled up through generations. Because the property was erected in the early part of the era of the 1940s, it gives anyone a license of creativity to have all sorts of fun infused in the place.

Miami Beach (Photo: miamiandbeaches.com)

Miami Beach (Photo: miamiandbeaches.com)

Also what about the bar and a restaurant that you are also working on in Miami?

Two brothers who are originally from Cannes in France approached me. They own a restaurant and a nightclub in Miami and were in need of an expansion into an area known as Brickell. It is a part of town that is interesting because it is the center of finance of Miami so there are a lot of business and finance people. However, it is also very near to neighborhoods’ that are residential like Coconut Grove and Coral Gables, which was why you had amazing local customers in the evenings. Generally, the area is really exciting – in Brickell there is the Pérez Art Museum, a condominium is being designed there by Julian Schnabel, and also being built is an SLS hotel.

Were creative licenses given to you? What will it be like in each space?

Yes their trust is already placed in me. A lot of thought was put into it by me, and it has a crazy sound, but I have a feeling that Miami possessed so little places where seafood that are simply grilled and authentic. That is what we intend to do with Marion, whose focus will be on coastal cuisine that if French. The feeling I wanted to create was that of a belonging in Europe, where there were very small restaurants where everyone bumps into each other but still had a sort of energy – which felt like having two stones rubbed together to have a spark created. A place is meant to feel authentic by those little things. So a kitchen which is open and big is going to be there, but the room is going to be cozy like a brasserie which is down-to-earth.

El Tucán would be a few doors down. Music and food are my two biggest passions, which is why with this one we actually went for it. The entire room is done in this champagne and dusty rose colour, and there are going to be brass palm trees that would be giant and a lot of patina details and draped fabric. It has a richness that is elegant in a way that is kind of old-fashioned.

 

Also we had a theatrical lighting designer who is amazing brought in. She has been working with the Beastie Boys and we have been collaborating before on a project at L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art a couple of years ago. We want to create a feeling for everyone where the moment you walk through the doors it seems like you have stepped back in time. This is why she is having vintage stage lighting installed. We are going to have a house band decked out in suits that are pure white along with bandstands in the front where Latin-inspired music would be played. However we want it to be a place of beauty where good music can be listened to by you, and where you can equally listen to acts that are really big in a room that is small – just like in New York at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater.

 

We are still there. What else are you working on?

About an hour north of Cabo San Lucas in Todos Santos, Mexico we began a project that is amazing. This place is just like the West Coast’s Miami. It is known as Tres Santos – a community development on 1,000 acres focused on wellness which is being helmed by the founder of Joie de Vivre Chip Conley, who is presently Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, and the Principal and Founder of Black Creek Group Jimmy Mulvihill. Liz Lambert is going to design a beachfront hotel for the place, and it would
also have an agricultural research center partnered with Colorado State University, yoga facilities, surfing, hiking trails, retails spaces, and a farm-to-table restaurant.

A 20,000-square-foot private beach club adjacent to the hotel is what I have been brought in to design. For us this is a whole new level-in Mexico it is our first project and it is the first one that is being built by us from the ground up. A building is what I dreamt of literally, and that is what we are now making. A dream is what that is in itself.

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After quite a lot of work and time, the book which I have been working on is now ready. I am pleased to say that The Top 50 Travel Destinations for 2015 is now available for your reading pleasure. The Top 50 Travel Destinations for 2015 is going to be your tour and travel guide for this year 2015. I have taken the time to highlight those places which I am sure you would be glad to see this year as you spend those splendid moments with your family, and loved ones.

The book is available on Amazon and can be purchased from here. Do check it out today and let me know what you think.