Casa Bella Residences by B&B Italia

The challenge

Fifty-seven stories on Biscayne Boulevard put two pressures on the MEP design at the same time. High-rise life safety under the Florida Building Code demands stair pressurisation, smoke control, and a standpipe and fire pump arrangement zoned across the full height of the tower. Meanwhile every inch of shaft and ceiling plenum competes directly with sellable ceiling height — and Casa Bella sells ten-foot ceilings in the residences and eleven to twelve feet across the penthouse collection.

The penthouse level adds two private rooftop terraces, which means plumbing, drainage and power have to reach the very top of the building and survive coastal exposure. The site is hurricane-rated: the design has to hold during a storm and keep life safety systems running after one.

The approach

Mechanical, electrical and plumbing verticals are consolidated into a coordinated core so horizontal distribution stays above the ceiling line without dropping finished height in the units. Riser zoning holds domestic water pressure across 57 floors without booster noise carrying into the residences.

Casa Bella is the tallest tower in the firm's active portfolio and the third project in this portfolio with Arquitectonica.