Sweetbird North is an eight-story office and retail building designed by Snøhetta for 95 NE 40th Street in Miami’s Design District. The project, approximately 120,000 square feet, broke ground on September 30, 2026, according to Snøhetta and the district. Its defining feature is a coiled stainless-steel mesh screen wrapped around exposed concrete bays and scalloped terraces.
What is Sweetbird North?
Sweetbird North combines office space with retail on the first two floors. Snøhetta and the Miami Design District report an overall area of approximately 120,000 square feet; the district identifies approximately 22,500 square feet of retail. These are project-reported figures, not independent measurements. Snøhetta’s project page lists the building as ongoing, while the firm’s July 9, 2026 announcement and the district’s project update describe its design and program.
Snøhetta’s October 1, 2026 announcement reports that construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony on September 30. The development team includes Miami Design District Associates and Raycliff Capital. The ceremony also included Dacra, Snøhetta founding partner Craig Dykers and Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins, according to the firm.
How the mesh facade is designed to work
A precisely tensioned veil of coiled stainless-steel mesh forms a second skin around the building. It surrounds exposed concrete bays and cantilevered terraces with scalloped edges; the terraces vary in length and geometry from floor to floor. Snøhetta says the mesh appears nearly transparent when viewed head-on and more opaque from oblique angles, with its appearance changing in different light.
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The architect describes the exterior as a combined system of impact glazing, reinforced concrete and protective screen. Snøhetta attributes three intended functions to the mesh: shading, acting as a guardrail and serving as a hurricane-resistant exterior screen. The firm also says the screen is intended to reduce solar gain and mechanical cooling loads while allowing transparent glazing.
Those descriptions are design claims, not published performance results. The available project announcements do not provide independent measurements of cooling savings, a storm-test report or post-occupancy data. They also do not name the mesh fabricator or provide detailed facade engineering specifications. The sources therefore establish the screen’s stated purpose, but not a quantified energy benefit or independently verified hurricane performance.
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Terraces, planting and the street-level program
Office floors open onto planted terraces, and the building includes a landscaped roof. Snøhetta describes a planting scheme that shifts from dense tropical greenery on lower levels to flowering bougainvillea above. The architect says the vegetation is intended to support pollinators, retain stormwater and contribute to air quality and occupant wellbeing; measured ecological or health outcomes have not been published in the project materials.
At street level, metal-clad columns and extended canopies frame glazed retail bays. The approximately 22,500-square-foot retail program spans the ground and second floors, according to the Miami Design District. The project description presents this frontage as a pedestrian connection to the surrounding street.
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What the project signals for the Design District
Snøhetta presents Sweetbird North as part of a shift from the district’s low-rise, retail-focused character toward a denser, more vertically articulated neighborhood. The building’s combination of offices, retail, outdoor terraces and planted roof gives that framing a clear architectural expression. It is the architect’s interpretation of neighborhood change, rather than an independently quantified planning conclusion.
In the firm’s July 2026 announcement, project director Nathan McRae described the development as part of a phase in which infrastructure, landscape and architecture are treated as connected elements of the urban framework. The project’s mix of uses and layered facade make that ambition visible, while its eventual construction and operating performance remain to be seen.
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