The Courts at South Beach

A 300-unit residential community on 7.8 acres in the South Pointe area of Miami Beach has served as the centerpiece of the district¹s revitalization. Extending along an east-west axis over three city blocks, from Washington Avenue to Alton Road, the project is organized into three main courtyard elements. The courtyard element itself is composed of a series of smaller courtyard buildings that define the urban edges and circumscribe the open space amenities. At the east and west ends of the site, these spaces occur as elevated pools and health club courts that extend overbroad, landscaped bridges to cascade down over landscaped terraces to a large lush garden court at the center of the complex. The eastern perimeter houses ground-level retail and the western edge contains retail space as well as a public library and daycare center.

In an article about this project in the February 2003 issue of Urban Land magazine, author William P. Mack names Jaime Schapiro as a pioneer in the new solution for low-rise courtyard housing. He goes on to say that Mr. Schapiro has incorporated his Chilean roots as well as the influence of Medieval European towns in order to successfully envision an urban Mediterranean village like the Courts at South Beach.