Interior Design Students Re-Vision
Miami Beach Condo Building
(4/13/2005)

(Miami, FL) - It must have felt like the opening episode of a reality show as Gina Tanner's Interior Design students sat at drafting tables in their second-floor classroom furiously scribbling notes about room dimensions, budget restrictions, and carpet patterns. Each of these Miami International University of Art & Design students hoped to be the one to create the design for a renovation of La Gorce Palace Condominium, a feat that could earn them not only an A in the class but also a hefty $1,000 prize check.

Lynn Sampson of Lynn Sampson Interiors, the firm chosen by La Gorce to mastermind the renovation of the waterfront building on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, presented photos of the buildings in a presentation to the students on the first day of their class. “We wanted to transform the little building that can't. The building is 20 years old and needs to modernize,” she said. “We wanted fresh approaches from a new generation of designers to go into this project because the residents are concerned about competition from new towers going up in the neighborhood.”

So concerned are they, in fact, that they are investing in updating the elevator lobbies, hallways, and recreation room on the seventh floor. A few years ago the condominium's main lobby was given a facelift, and the students' task is to carry the spirit of that design through to the other areas of the building.

Student Tamara Fernandez-Rosa came up with the vision that impressed the judges - members of the condo association, among others - the most, earning her the $1,000 prize. The challenges of this project included incorporating her ideas into an existing theme while staying within the budget allocated to the renovation.

“In doing the renderings and creating the presentation boards, the students didn't just feel like they were working on a real project,” says Tanner, “they actually were!”

Second place and $750 went to Anne Marie Lloro, third place and $500 went to Sheena DeHann, and honorable mention went to Zaima Suarez and Zaira Goschalk. Construction on the renovationincorporating the winning design is slated to begin soon.

Assignments like these are Tanner's hallmark as an instructor at Miami International University of Art & Design, and they led her to be the most recent recipient of the University's Innovator award.

President Erika Fleming applauds her efforts. “When our students and instructors work with local design firms on buildings in their own neighborhoods, it brings their skills to the next level,” she says. “The support we get from the local Interior Design industry in offering opportunities and the motivation of prizes like this are tangible evidence of how well-respected our programs are.”