In a store dedicated to some of the world’s finest timepieces, every detail matters. So when RIOS began designing a daylit interior courtyard for Vacheron Constantin’s flagship in Miami’s Design District, the goal wasn’t to just add greenery to the luxury retail environment. The team wanted to create a distinct moment within it. A place that felt softer, quieter, and almost unexpected. “The first thing we needed to establish was: Does this feel like a continuation of the current interiors, or is this going to be a destination within the space?” says Blake Smith of RIOS.
Rather than continuing the more articulated geometry of the store, the courtyard would provide a counterpoint: an airy, plant-filled oasis defined by flowing forms that Smith describes as reminiscent of water, eroded rock, or droplets moving across a surface. The result is part landscape, part furniture, and part sculpture. And getting there required the designer and fabricator to rethink where one element ended and another began.
The courtyard is tucked toward the back of the store, but visitors encounter hints of it long before they enter it. From the street, there is a glimpse through the retail space toward greenery and a 16-foot palm. Move farther into the store and the courtyard gradually reveals itself. A mezzanine provides an aerial view down into the double-height space, while a framed opening from an adjacent conference area captures another view dominated by the green wall. “You really get to experience it from all different vantage points,” Smith says. At ground level, the experience becomes immersive. A living wall provides a lush backdrop while white, organically shaped planters appear to flow through the room. Seating nestles directly into those forms, allowing visitors to sit within the landscape rather than simply beside it.
Smith recalls hearing from the project’s architect of record during construction that whenever she needed a break, she found herself sitting in the unfinished courtyard. “She said she immediately would feel a sense of calm,” he says. “And that's exactly what we were trying to give.” For a customer preparing to make—or perhaps celebrating—a significant luxury purchase, the courtyard offers a moment to pause and reset.
RIOS had established the project's soft, fluid geometry before Opiary joined the team. The challenge was figuring out how to turn that vision into something buildable at the quality the environment demanded. Originally, the sculptural planters and custom banquette seating were conceived as separate elements. The planter could be fabricated as one component and the seating built independently using more traditional millwork. Then the team was introduced to Opiary. “I think there was always this ambition to have this integrated work of art,” Smith says. “But we were playing it safe in the sense of: Who can do this?”
Opiary provided an answer. Its existing Cloud Bench concept demonstrated that the seating could become part of the sculptural planter itself. Rather than inserting furniture into the landscape, RIOS returned to its 3D model and began reshaping the design around a single integrated form. For Opiary, it pushed an existing idea forward as well. The company had created Cloud Benches for previous clients, but the movement within the RIOS design presented a different challenge. The seating flows into the surrounding planter forms, building on Opiary’s original Cloud Bench design. That exchange illustrates an important part of the project's success: the fabricator wasn't simply handed a finished design and asked to execute it. The design evolved because of what the fabricator knew was possible.
The forms were created using glass fiber-reinforced concrete (GFRC)—a material at the heart of Opiary’s fabrication work. The process began digitally. The team's computer model was translated through computer numerical control (CNC) fabrication into a series of ribs forming an internal armature. From there, GFRC could be applied and hand-sculpted to create the flowing final geometry. Because GFRC uses a relatively thin concrete shell reinforced with glass fiber, the team could achieve substantial sculptural forms without the mass of conventional solid concrete. But digital precision was only part of the process.
Fabrication required continual dialogue between RIOS and Opiary. Tight radii in the original model were softened. Tolerances were reconsidered. Details were adjusted to suit a finish that would ultimately be shaped by hand. Rather than fighting those realities, the team allowed them to inform the design. Smith describes the subtle variations through the lens of wabi-sabi: with softer radii and handmade surfaces, small nuances become part of the object's character rather than imperfections that detract from it. “This design would not have stood on its own if it wasn't constructed to such a high level,” Smith says. “These forms and these shapes have to be done with an artistic touch.”
The fabrication schedule added another layer of complexity. Opiary joined the project after much of the schematic design had already been established, leaving only a matter of months for design development, fabrication, delivery, and installation—a process the team says might otherwise have taken significantly longer. The entire sculptural installation was first assembled as one piece in Opiary’s Brooklyn studio. Then the team cut it apart. The sections were carefully packaged, transported to Miami, and reassembled inside the flagship while construction continued around them. After installation, the team eliminated the visible seams and created what they describe as a furniture-quality Level 5 finish appropriate for the luxury environment.
That repairability became unexpectedly useful. The installation sustained damage while other construction was underway. Because the pieces form what visually reads as one monolithic object, even a poorly executed patch could have disrupted the effect. Opiary returned to repair the damaged areas, restoring the finish without compromising the installation's longevity or leaving visible evidence of the repair.
For Smith, the project's significance extends beyond this courtyard. Knowing what a specialist fabricator can accomplish changes what a designer can confidently put on paper in the first place. “Knowing their capabilities really liberates us as designers to shoot for the highest quality and standard from day one,” he says. That matters particularly at RIOS, where landscape architecture, architecture, interiors, and planning frequently intersect. The studio continually explores ways to bring landscape into buildings, extend programmed spaces outdoors, and blur conventional boundaries between disciplines.
The Vacheron Constantin courtyard applies that same thinking at the scale of an object. Is it a planter? A bench? A sculpture? A landscape? The answer is all of them. And perhaps that is the most valuable lesson from the project. Innovation doesn't always come from inventing an entirely new material or abandoning the original design. Sometimes it comes from bringing the right people into the process and allowing their expertise to change what everyone believes is possible. The Miami project is deceptively simple: a quiet garden surrounded by an exacting luxury environment. But behind those gentle curves is a story of digital design, hand craftsmanship, material experimentation, and, most importantly, collaboration.
The designer pushed the idea. The fabricator pushed what could be built. And somewhere between the two, the project became something neither discipline could create alone.