MIRO (Interior)

MIRO is an extraordinary addition to the San Jose skyline; the two tallest towers in the city, this new mixed-use property featuring interiors designed by a highly-respected Bay Area firm offers a cosmopolitan take on a warm yet crisply contemporary residential style. We were responsible for all public areas: twenty thousand feet of lobbies and amenity spaces, spread throughout the property’s ground and podium floors as well as the spectacular sky deck. Throughout, an aesthetic of clean sophistication and rich materials offers a residential opportunity unlike any other in this vibrant Bay Area city. 

Our contributions comprise public and amenity spaces split across multiple floors on two towers: two lobbies; a gallery space; podium level amenity spaces; and two sky lounges. Throughout, a mix of dense warm surfaces combine with carefully-considered furnishings to create spaces that are at once restorative and enlivening, private and public. MIRO is San Jose’s first highly sophisticated internationally-minded residential high-rise, transforming the polished, informed, and world-class nature of its citizens into built space. 

The two lobbies are a study in contrasts; one is dark and one is light, but both share the lead interior architect’s ability to create spatial texture by combining articulated wooden slats that line the walls and ceilings to produce a sense of separate space with thoughtfully selected Giorgio Armani and Calacatta Vaglio marbles, which produce a feeling of deeply luxurious gravity and resonance, working in concert with playful lighting and perfectly-articulated proportions. A dedicated gallery space in the east tower offers a phenomenal opportunity for showcasing local, national, and international artists, and is detailed with thick concrete columns, minimal yet plush lounge seating, and vibrant lighting. On the podium floor, which links the two towers, hospitality-driven moves like a long light wood bar rest next to a carefully curated bookshelf full of books, selected objects, and plants. The sky lounge, detailed with deep cozy chairs, globe lighting, and a fireplace, provides a place for respite and restoration after pursuing the vast opportunities right outside MIRO’s front door.

The project draws on our ability to bring together sophisticated architectural ideas with a warm California modernism, evidenced in the productive encounter between dark concrete columns and glowing wooden slats; shown in the variegated use of white and dark ceilings, richly-stained oak woods, and warm tufts of upholstery. Through our contributions, MIRO becomes visually and materially elevated, as the art, textiles, lighting, and otherwise often neutral backdrops—floors, walls, ceilings—begin to work together in coherent harmony. The project also speaks to, and supports, a collective drive for togetherness, the importance for multifamily residential buildings to act not only as repositories of individuality but also group gathering places. Our emphasis placed on amenity and lobby spaces speaks to the newly-felt importance of the seamless encounter between public and private, neighbor and guest. In our hands, MIRO becomes an icon and beacon for downtown San Jose.