ARC+ Grove Properties / Oxford Universal
A Conversation with Marcelo Fernandes
ARC+… You have a career path that starts in computer sciences, goes through budget administration, electronic merchandise, medical products, real estate, and ends up with the following statement: “I have committed to making ALL my new projects LEED certified”
How do you end up doing LEED certified construction?
MF… Yes, LEED is one of the brands and we worked very closely, hand in hand with our consultants since the early meetings of the project to achieve all of the points and qualifications. They follow the process and they act as third party between the developer and the architect, it is a different figure. We made a decision internally that every new design-build project will be LEED certified, which is a step further than going green. The process is more expensive, the time and procurement are more complicated, but you get a much better product.
ARC+… Miami as a territory for construction and development will be severely affected by Climate Change issues like, Global Warming, Sea Level Rise and many others. With so many opportunities and available land, you and your companies could be working in a more robust terrain, less fragile than this.
Why Miami? Why do you stay in Coconut Grove?
MF… Went to college in northern cities, lived in cold weather and I realized I am not a cold person, so I returned to my roots, grew up here in Miami, went to school around the block from here, so this is my place. Miami is near everything, within minutes you can get anywhere either by boat, by plane or to the everglades and be in the middle of nowhere. Some local communities like the Grove are “perfect” safe environments where kids can walk to school and you get that sense of belonging, but we are also trying to help, not only developing houses, but also participate in the growth of mass transit, turn the city into more walkable pedestrian friendly environments. Yes, there are challenges here, that’s what makes it interesting for us.
ARC+… 4045 Bonita Avenue in the Groves, is one of your new LEED certified projects and it will be your first “branded project”, with a local architect’s signature. We have seen all the drawings and renderings for the House, it will be a unique and fantastic home.
Are you interested in a type of collaboration that will promote young and local architects, as a model for your business?
MF… I was lucky to find local people like Jacob Brillhart and his team, and worked with them in the Bonita Avenue project. Very professional response and commitment to our brand. We don’t really work with an specific architect or brand, so we are still open to try different things. This house is a frame structure, not the typical Miami concrete construction. In the 90’s most of the projects were done with typical, repeated details, like every building is the same, every client is the same, which is not true.
In this case, the architects delivered a complete project to be built on a fast track and now they see it, they don’t see the typical conflictive relation developer-architect, but a collaborative possibility to develop and experiment with the architecture they are interested in and the products we want to build. They worked with all the local restrains, codes, small scale and we are a small group, very focused on highly designed and well built homes.
ARC+… The private home real state market in Miami has changed drastically in the last 3–4 years, we see more demand for Contemporary Architecture. More big names and Starchitects are building new developments in the city, which is good, but we also believe in the voice of local architects in our communities, and the 4045 Bonita Avenue project is a great example.
Will you say that “good architecture” will turn out as a better business model?
MF… Absolutely, the local architects are the ones doing most of the work. When you hire an architect from a different context you still need a local firm to work on the sets of drawings to get the permits, for instance in this house where all the construction documents presented to the city showed framing plans and not traditional details. It took a lot of time and conversations with authorities to work things out.
We must be the only developers doing spec homes with an architect’s signature, we are now trying for a two stories version of this one, so we are pushing the market to bring a better product. A good design with the features the market asks for is a good business if you work out your numbers, from the lot size to the bedrooms areas. We had long conversations with the designers and edited some of the superficial parts of the house and focus on specific features to create a real impact with this building.
ARC+… In conversations with ARC+ and FIU/Carta Faculty we’ve talked this interdisciplinary experience with local developers, builders, architects, students and professors and the multiple benefits that will bring to our academic environment. In our classes we work very close with our students in a highly technical design process, but one of the missing aspects in our classrooms is or was the connection with the industry. This collaboration and the hands-on learning of the craft, will help us bridge the gap between academia and practice, will enhance our education and therefore, will create awareness of our responsibilities in the field.
After almost two semesters with this model, How can we make this collaboration stronger for Grove Properties, ARC+ and FIU/Carta?
MF… Hopefully more developers will collaborate and the organization will grow, with better funding to sponsor other projects or pay (professionally) some students on specific assignments. The key is getting the program off the ground, get more recognition and we are going to help, use all this experience with FIU students into our marketing for the houses, so the word goes out, because we need to get more people involved, developers, builders, other universities also, more students. We could also incorporate students in the earlier stages of the process, they could record, video the meetings, write reports and at the end of a semester, get a whole picture of a full building timeline. It will be very interesting also, if we could collaborate with students and use the school’s technology to prototype, 3D model, visualizations and things that help a developer and architect anticipate final results, that will also help develop a more robust collaboration between the industry and academia.
