Maison Nouvelle began as a semester-long hospitality studio project set in Miami Beach, Florida, where each student was handed an empty 36-story building shell and challenged to imagine its future.
Maison Nouvelle became a story about reinterpreting Miami’s architectural heritage and bringing forward a design language rooted in fluidity, craftsmanship, and thoughtful guest experience.
the Story this building tells comes from looking at Miami’s celebrated Art Deco identity, and the stylistic movement that shaped it: Art Nouveau.
Visual Language
The works of Victor Horta and Hector Guimard helped shape the visual language of the project. Horta’s seamless lines and integrated detailing informed the way I designed circulation paths, ceiling profiles, and column treatments, ensuring the building flowed naturally from one space to the next. Guimard, with his sculptural and organic forms, inspired the custom lighting, curved openings, and furniture silhouettes that appear throughout the hotel. These influences grounded the project in a historical lineage without relying on direct replication.
Level 26
The narrative continues on Level 26, the building’s typical
guest-room floor. Here, I developed a full collection of room types: an ADA King Room, Queen Room, King Suite, and a King Deluxe Room with a private terrace. Designing the ADA King Room required thoughtful coordination of accessibility needs, turning radii, clearances, roll-in showers, grab bars, and reach ranges, all incorporated in a way that maintained the overall design direction.
Level 26
Also on Level 26 is Salon Horta, a private amenity reserved exclusively for hotel guests. Designed as an art studio offering instructor-led lessons, Salon Horta ties directly into the project’s Art Nouveau focus on craft, creativity, and expressive form. Flexible easel space, controlled natural light, and a detailed
floor mosaic shape the space, allowing guests to experience
the design concept in a hands-on, immersive way.
The project also includes an exterior terrace and infinity pool, where organic lines extend the interior design intent outdoors and connect the hotel experience to Miami’s coastal setting.
Conclusion
Throughout the semester, Maison Nouvelle came together through a comprehensive set of professional deliverables. These included lighting plans, rendered floor plans, a construction document set, presentation renderings, a hotel partnership and branding package, circulation diagrams, precedent studies, ADA research and implementation, and a final presentation to a panel of industry professionals. Each component helped build the project into a fully developed hospitality concept.
