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Miami : Tropical Deco Features

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Top 10 Tropical Deco Features

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  • 1. Tropical Motifs

    These include Florida palms and panthers, orchids and alligators, but especially birds, such as flamingos and cranes.

  • 2. Ice-Cream Colors

    Actually, most Deco buildings here were originally white, with a bit of painted trim; the present-day rich pastel palette “Deco Dazzle” was the innovation of Miami designer and Capitman collaborator Leonard Horowitz in the 1980s.

  • 3. Nautical Features

    What better way to remind visitors of the ocean and its pleasures than with portholes and ship-railings? Some of the buildings resemble beached liners.

  • 4. Curves and Lines

    This suggestion of speed is the essence of the Streamline Moderne style – it is an implicit appreciation of the power of technology.

  • 5. Stucco Bas-Relief Friezes

    These sculptural bands offered designers endless possibilities for a wonderful mix of ancient and modern motifs and themes.

  • 6. Stylized, Geometric Patterning

    This was a nod to the extreme modernity of Cubism, as well as, again, the power and precision of technology, espoused by Bauhaus precepts.

  • 7. Fantasy Towers

    Many Deco buildings try to give the viewer a sense of something mythical – towers that speak of far shores or exalted visions – and that effectively announce the hotel’s name, as well.

  • 8. Neon

    Used mostly for outlining architectural elements, neon lighting, in a glamorous range of colors, came into its own with Tropical Deco.

  • 9. Chrome

    What touch more perfectly says “modern” than a cool, incorruptible silver streak? Chrome is used as detailing on and within many buildings.

  • 10. Glass Blocks

    Used in the construction of many Deco walls, the glass blocks give a sense of light and lightness in a part of the country where indoor-outdoor living is year-round.

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