Miami Beach has some of the most luxurious and sought after condo spaces on the planet. With beach front limited, if you’re not named Beyonce but still want that beach front access, a smaller unit may be your best bet in acquiring the address. However, this also poses an interesting problem, experienced even by those with larger properties: where does all your ‘stuff’ go?
Fortunately, the self-storage market is booming in the Miami Beach area to keep up with the demand. That said, when you think of self-storage, you think of a building without a design concept. This certainly wouldn’t work for the flashy Miami Beach residents. EP Storage upped the game of storage facilities by hiring a design team led by Gutierrez & Lozano Architects for their 633 Alton Road location. The 22,000 ft2 (2044 m2) will be designed in the same style as the local high-rises and business centers, making it an attractive building instead of an eye-sore. To build in this style a certain design flexibility coupled with long-term performance is needed, especially in resistance to flooding.
LM Development Group, the contractor for the self-storage space used Krystol Internal Membrane (KIM) crystalline waterproofing admixture to waterproof the concrete. KIM was added to the concrete for the foundation slab, all columns, and the extra large elevator pit. One of the hurdles for building in Miami Beach is the stringent the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE 24) Flood Proof requirement. KIM was able to meet this strict standard for this flood hazard area where other waterproofing products could not.
As KIM is added directly to the concrete mix at batching, the architects were able to design right to the property line in order to maximize profits of the facility. Further to that, they were also given the flexibility to design a one-of-a-kind storage facility that blends seamlessly with the surrounding architecture whilst not compromising the long-term performance. KIM will keep the facility watertight for the life of the structure.
Krystol Internal Membrane (KIM) is a hydrophilic crystalline admixture used to create permanently waterproof concrete.