KPF, ODP and Patricia Urquiola designing "White Lotus" resort skyscraper in Miami

Architecture studios KPF and ODP have designed a skyscraper in Miami for hospitality company Anantara, known for operating the hotel featured in a season of television show The White Lotus.

A first US location for Anantara, the 50-storey skyscraper is planned for the Miami waterfront, near the city's Design District.

It will contain condominiums and have interiors designed by Spanish architect Patricia Urquiola.

According to the developers, the skyscraper is meant to be both modern and draw heavily from Thai influences.

"Anantara Miami Resort & Residences will bring together an internationally recognized design team whose work reflects both Anantara's heritage and Miami's cosmopolitan character," they said in a release.

"Architecture by the acclaimed firm Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) and ODP Architecture & Design (ODP) will modernize the skyline with a design that is distinctly Miami, including subtle Thailand-inspired cues that capture the essence of the Anantara brand."

Working with local developers One Thousand Group, KPF and ODP designed a contemporary skyscraper with a compact, shingled podium on a site between two busy roads that converge at the Julia Tuttle Causeway.

Renderings of the skyscraper show a lush podium with a recessed, glass-clad entry programme on the ground floor.

Topping the podium will be pools, decorative ponds with the massive columns supporting the skyscraper visible.

The design is shaped by climate, light, and proximity to the water – creating a building that feels both internationally grounded and locally specific," said KPF principal Robert Whitlock.

The tower will have a high-tech facade with a curtained portion that wraps around the building, pulled back in points, with two distinct layers on the exterior envelope

This curtain facade programme is clearest at the bulkhead, where the exterior layer extends beyond the top of the structure. It will be topped with a helipad.

Urquiola will design the interiors as her first US residential project, according to the developers.

According to the team, the residences were designed to promote "ancient healing and modern longevity".

"Hospitality leaders behind HBO's 'White Lotus' in Thailand to offer an elevated, five-star residential sanctuary for ancient healing and modern longevity in Miami's Edgewater neighborhood, opening in 2030," it said.