With a new installation in the Miami Design District, gt2P is bringing great things to the people of Miami.

Floating parasols create whimsical lighting effects and work with natural elements to provide an inspirational experience for visitors of the Design District.

Synthesizing robust architecture and design virtuosities with a Chilean toolbox, Great Things to People (gt2P) is a Santiago-based collective of unmatched artistry. Established in 2009, the ensemble specializes in “paracrafting”—craftsmanship of “parametric thinking with traditional techniques driven by their cultural heritage”—and bridging the divide between digital and physical fabrication.

Gt2P (composed of architects Tamara Pérez, Sebastián Rozas and Guillermo Parada and engineer Eduardo Arancibia) boasts a boundary-bending portfolio epitomizing the “collaborative nature of design creation.” The quartet’s 2014 showpiece, “Less CPP N°2: Porcelain vs Lava Lights,” is a product of such innovation. Run a finger over slabs of Chilean volcanic lava baked with cutting-edge sensor technologies—the rocks operate as natural dimmers for illuminating porcelain LEDs.

Gt2P’s multidisciplinary, 3-D projects have won internationally coveted spots at The Met, London’s Design Museum, Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria and now the Miami Design District. The studio won gold in MDD’s 2020 Design Commission with the proposed display Conscious Actions.

the four members who make up gt2P

Set to debut this month, Conscious Actions transforms elementary school recess into an experiential concept engrossed in the competition’s theme of energy. Visitors interact with floating parasols and playground swings and are treated to reactive shadows, transformative surfaces, kinetic motion and solar-powered lighting. The aqua-and-peach structures to be installed throughout the neighborhood underscore the direct impact of natural forces on the environment.

“We seek to continue to play a key role in Miami’s ever-expanding cultural fabric as well as inspire positive change in the community,” Craig Robins, president and CEO of Dacra, says of the Design District. Gt2P’s latest invention and MDD’s modernism both project the notion that “people should be at the center of any design project.”

A rendering of the swing perspective from the Conscious Actions installation