Kobi Karp’s restoration design techniques have contributed to a renaissance in one of the United States’ most iconic neighborhoods, Miami Beach’s Art Deco District, which is internationally recognized around the world for its culture, lifestyle and architecture. Kobi has designed everything from large-scale, high-rise condominium and hospitality projects to intimate, small-scale low-rise residential and commercial structures. Over the past three decades Kobi has garnered international acclaim and been selected to spearhead numerous resort projects, growing his firm to service projects in the Caribbean, Black Sea region, and the Middle East. His projects in South Florida include Four Seasons Surf Club, One Hotel Miami Beach, Palazzo Del Sol on Fisher Island, The Cadillac Hotel, and 2000 Ocean, amongst many others. Despite his fast-paced, busy schedule and lifestyle we were able to catch-up with Kobi between his work on his current projects including The Raleigh Hotel in Miami Beach and Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale, to get inside the mind of one of Miami’s most prolific and iconic architects:
PROFILEmiami: Can you tell us about your background? Where did you grow up?
Kobi: I was born in 1962 in Israel. When I was 11 years old, my family moved to Minneapolis, MN. That was a bit of a change, but it was good to grow up in the Midwest. It was a different time. The Midwest in the 1970’s was a cool place, and Israel in the 60’s was also a cool place. We were outdoor kids and we grew up in nature. The environment, whether it is in the Middle East, which is more desert, or Minneapolis, is radically different. In Minnesota you go ice fishing, ride the toboggan, play pond hockey, and you become part of the environment. In Minnesota if you don’t play hockey or you don’t ski, there is nothing to talk about. All sports were part of our daily, ongoing life. That is how I grew up.
PROFILEmiami: When and how did you first get involved in architecture?
Kobi: I was also artistic, and I liked history a lot. History and the art came together in a nice way when I started to study buildings, art and statues. I was also good at drawing, which is what I enjoyed. Later that became urban planning, but not knowing at the time that it was architecture. That led to studying architecture and environmental design at the University of Minnesota, which later led to me receiving a degree in environmental design and architecture. It gave me an opportunity to see the world in a different light and the opportunity to see how people lived. I also lived in Alaska, and began thinking about how eskimos live in igloos versus how people live in trailer homes versus tents. That gave me an ability to deal with people on a completely different level.
When I came to Florida in 1988, that was the Miami Vice and Scarface days, a little bit different than it is today. I worked in the Caribbean. I lived and worked in St. Lucia, in Grenada, in Turks & Caicos, and Bahamas, where I worked on all-inclusive resorts, which were luxury, but at the time, did not have good phones and mail compared to today. The environment played a big role in my development. Florida is the only tropical climate we have in the lower 48 states, compared to my previous past living in Alaska, Minnesota, and Israel. The experience gave me a contradiction. For example, the contradiction made me appreciate the coconut which falls and floats in the ocean and you can drink it, or eat it. It gave me the ability to understand the world we live in in a broader, more correct fashion. It gave me the opportunity to understand the world for what it really is.
Architecture for me is a backdrop to the environment. It is a backdrop to the landscaping, to the mountains, to the river, to the beaches. I don't care who you are, you are a part of your environment. That is what I take as inspiration on a daily basis and try to do with my design in the buildings. I use the environment, the buildings that were built before us in our community, the historical buildings and historical environment as a cantilever, the point of thought and discussion.
Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale
PROFILEmiami: What are some of the elements of design that you have brought to Miami?
Kobi: When I designed a building called the Caribbean Condominium in Miami, which was on the ocean, we used the historical building to welcome you when you walk in. We did the same thing at the 1Hotel in South Beach—we restored the existing building and welcome you into the property via the original building. We do it in other locations more strongly, for example in The Four Seasons at the Surf Club, where we restored the historic structure, and then we bring you into the new structure.
The argument is in order to understand the new, or appreciate the new, you have to walk through the original space as well. You then understand who was there before us, 100 years, 80 years before us. It is a bit nicer to walk into the old, and then walk into the new. I do that as well in the Marriott Autograph in Miami Beach and the Confidante Hotel. I try to do it anywhere I can in order to make you appreciate where we came from and the community’s history. I think understanding the history of who we are, as a human race, helps us to have a better idea of who we are individually and who we are architecturally going forward.
PROFILEmiami: How has design in South Florida changed since you arrived here over the past 30+ years?
Kobi: Design is continuously changing and modifying and reflecting who we are as society. It is dynamic, not static. At the same time, the architecture basis, the DNA, is essentially the same. Despite this, the materials and the methods that we use to build today are radically different, and I believe that they will be even more radically different in the next two decades and the next generation. The methods of construction are going to be much more sophisticated than they have been. A lot has happened in my generation, and a lot will happen in the next generation. Since the industrial age, civilizations have moved radically forward. We as architects are the tools to help evolve that environment; we are the tools that help people to live and create the spaces that we live in which are continuously changing.
A house is like a tree or a person. The tree you plant is not the tree you have 50 years later. You have to respect that and you have to acknowledge that. Whether it is a house or hotel or office building. We have to recycle it.
The Raleigh Hotel Miami Beach
PROFILEmiami: Within the design ecosystem who is driving it? Architects or construction firms?
Kobi: I think it is individualistic. The people who push forward are usually visionaries. It is a minority in the population. East, West, North, South. It makes no difference. It is a minority of people. Sometimes it is the architect, but not always. In my case, yes, I push, but I seek the input of developers, bankers, institutions, operators, etc. who have the same thoughts and ideas. I work very well with Barry Sternlicht, Steve Witkoff and Nadim Ashi, people who have that kind of a thought process and vision.
PROFILEmiami: Can you explain how you developed your relationship with Nadim Ashi and the Four Seasons properties he has developed?
Kobi: Nadim was originally not a developer or builder. He brings the canvas and asks, “What can you do?” He purchased one of my buildings in foreclosure, the Capri, before I designed Four Seasons Surf Club for him. I designed Four Seasons Surf Club in a way that helps make the property successful for him, but also really creates value, and most important created value through historical preservation within the town of Surfside. Four Seasons Surf Club is in Surfside, and there was pushback to call it The Surf Club in Miami Beach, or the Surf Club in Bal Harbour—everyone has their visions and desires of what they want to be. People told me that Surfside was going to be a complete failure, it is the armpit of Miami Beach. You drive through it and it is not as nice as Bal Harbour. Even people on Indian Creek.
The Surf Club used to be a beach club for people that lived in Indian Creek. People would go to the beach, then play a little golf or party at the club, then go to Bal Harbour Marina and get in their yacht and sail out through Haulover Inlet and head down to Havana, Cuba. The minute you understand the history and how rich the history was 100 years ago, you realize that you are just a single designer who has to think “What are you trying to make?” or “What are you trying to create?” It really is the anchor of the direction of that community.
Four Seasons Surf Club
PROFILEmiami: How does the buyer differ from someone who wants to be in an urban city center, like Miami WorldCenter, as opposed to someone who wants to be in a more beach lifestyle location such as The Four Seasons at the Surf Club or Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale?
Kobi: That is a sophisticated question that must be analyzed on multiple levels. People who live in Fort Lauderdale may not have a desire to live in Miami, and vice-versa. This gives you an opportunity to really create a unique destination of a residence for people who want to, for example, live in Fort Lauderdale. The minute you understand that, you will understand that people will live in a town like Surfside if you give them the right property. People will actually buy in the building you are building if you give them what they want, even if it was desolate before. It is my duty, my responsibility to provide them with the product that they want.
In Fort Lauderdale I was able to do that. I was able to have a block on the city’s 50-yard line with great views of the Atlantic Ocean, phenomenal views to the West and Southwest looking towards Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the historic part of Las Olas and the river. It is a great location. If we have a brand like Four Seasons—which was also the anchor of The Surf Club—as well as having one of the best locations in the city, when combined it creates one of the best locations in perpetuity.
We designed Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale so that the land, which is the most valuable commodity that we have, belongs to the community. We have lush landscaping and corner parks and linear parks so that the public can come and sit and enjoy their coffee in the morning or dinner at night. Anyone can come to the building and enjoy the urban fabric of it. We have both indoor and outdoor experiences.
Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale
PROFILEmiami: What other features did you use that were unique when designing The Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale?
Kobi: We floated the building up in the air and created semi-private spaces for the hotel and its guests. The hotel guests have a separate entry and the residential units also have their own separate entry. We created an environment of privacy that gets more public and semi-public as you go around the building. We were able to do that because we made the building sustainable and resilient by taking the demand for the parking, and instead of floating it up in the air as a louvered parking garage, we buried it underneath. That freed up the land to make the public and semi-public spaces, which also freed up the building to float above the landscaped marble deck that Fernando Wong created. It makes for really nice, three-dimensional urban landscaping with functional gardens and indoor-outdoor spaces. On top of the public spaces, we were then able to create a lanai deck, which is the pool for the hotel and the residences. That also allowed us to have the pool out towards the ocean in a way that mimics the bow of a ship. The geometry of the design adds a nautical feel to the building.
We also made sure to provide panoramic views not only towards the ocean—which at night is just black—but also to the city side, which at night is vibrant and lit up. The building is pretty sculptural so it has a unique feeling. As opposed to being rigid and geometric, it is free flowing and takes inspiration from the nautical sand dunes and the waves of the ocean. It is a more environmentally sustainable and resilient building, especially as the shape allows for the winds and tropical breezes to blow around and surround the building in a gentle fashion so when you are on the terraces it is enjoyable. People want to appreciate the environment and the Florida weather. I think it all comes together to make Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale one of the best buildings to live in, and it will continue to be.
Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale
PROFILEmiami: You are now involved in the redevelopment of The Raleigh Hotel in South Beach with Michael Shvo, can you give us some insight into what you are building over there?
Kobi: Michael Shvo hired me a bit over a year ago to look at the Raleigh Hotel, which itself is already a beautiful piece of architecture that Michael already appreciates. We met there and discussed why many of the previous owners and their past projects at The Raleigh had failed. Michael is a great visionary and saw the neighboring Richmond and The South Seas Hotels, which are not the nicest looking buildings architecturally speaking in modern terms. They were gorgeous at one time, and they were designed by a great architect named Dixon. When he built them they were beautiful. Over time they changed them and different designers updated them; thus, the original charm was lost, and with those changes the original value of the buildings were lost.
After discussing, Shvo went ahead and purchased the adjacent Richmond and The South Seas Hotels, which allowed me to create a master plan known as the Raleigh Master Plan. We went to the city and explained to them that bringing back the splendor of the original structures would restore the properties to their original glory. Instead of just encumbering the development rights, which disengages the design and the DNA of the property, we created a new tower closer to the ocean while restoring the original structures. This harkens back to the way I love to design property, in which you enter the original structure and, as you walk through the building, you are greeted by the old and get a feel for the history of the property before walking into the new. In the Raleigh Master Plan, you walk through the original structures, then out to a historical landscaped garden and pool before arriving at the new tower, which is behind the Richmond and South Seas Hotels and becomes part of the environment. The new structure will in essence float over what we call The Raleigh Gardens, which allows you to appreciate the land; again, the land is the most valuable commodity that we have. You create the value of the architecture by understanding the value of the history and the land.
My job as an architect is to create and think back to our forefathers who were unique and special themselves, whether we have discovered that already, or we are yet to discover that. That is my job as a space-maker and a designer. I not only create value for my client, not only for the community, but also for the end user. The person who will spend a good chunk of their quality time at the property.
PROFILEmiami: Any last words? How about thoughts on your legacy?
Kobi: I don’t really think about a legacy myself. I think that we go through this world like sand; if people remember you, then you are blessed. I just really love what I do. As my wife would say, I would do it for free. We joke that she works in the office to make sure I don’t do it for free. My two most important projects that I have, one I have been working on for 24 years and one for 18 years, are my sons. If I can help sculpt who they are, and assist them, and be there for them, that is really my biggest enjoyment. I love what I do and do not have a reason to retire. It’s not like I want to stop so I can go fishing or golfing—if I want to do that, I go do it anyway. I get self-enjoyment by hearing what people want, and being able to give that to them. To make people happy in their homes is what I enjoy. It gives me a sense of fulfillment, and that is really important.
Four Seasons Surf Club
About Kobi Karp:
Kobi Karp is the Founder and Principal of Kobi Karp Architecture and Interior Design, Inc (KKAID). Kobi Karp founded the firm in 1996 and has been the Principal-in-Charge of design since that time. KKAID is a full-service architectural and interior design firm providing a vast array of services, ranging from the design of large-scale, high-rise condominium and hospitality projects to intimate, small-scale low-rise residential and commercial structures. His restoration design techniques have contributed to a renaissance in one of this country’s most cherished areas, Miami Beach’s Art Deco District which is internationally recognized around the world.
Kobi Karp has developed expertise in design over the last 20 years, working with a wide range of project types, sizes, complexities, and budgets. It is through this last quarter century working in warm weather climates that KKAID has garnered international acclaim and been selected to spearhead numerous resort projects. Developers and builders in the Caribbean, Black Sea region, and the Middle East have relied on the firm for their design eye and planning.
Kobi Karp is a recognized member of the American Institute of Architects, honored for his award-winning designs and buildings and he is a licensed Professional Architect in 9 states and in Abu Dhabi (UAE). His firm has been featured in renowned national and local publications based on their major contributions in the preservation of historical areas.
Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale