Sensual Spaces: Snøhetta Transforms a Miami Warehouse for the Museum of Sex
Discover Miami’s Most Provocative New Design Destination
In a city celebrated for its bold colours, cultural collisions, and endless energy, Miami’s latest cultural landmark takes sensory exploration to a whole new level. Nestled in the fast-emerging neighbourhood of Allapattah, the newly opened Museum of Sex Miami—a dynamic outpost of its famed New York counterpart—is turning heads and challenging norms with its immersive, design-driven environment. Spearheaded by internationally renowned design studio Snøhetta, the transformation of a former Miami Herald distribution warehouse into a vibrant, playful, and thought-provoking museum is a compelling case for why this destination belongs at the top of your list of things to do in Miami.
This is more than a museum. It’s a radical, multifunctional space that engages all the senses—an architectural journey into the heart of human desire.
From Distribution Center to Design Destination
Occupying over 32,000 square feet, the new Museum of Sex Miami sits at the centre of what is quickly becoming one of the city’s most innovative cultural hubs. With neighbours like Superblue Miami and the Rubell Museum, Allapattah is emerging as the go-to district for contemporary art and experiential culture. And yet, this space offers something uniquely its own—an unapologetic celebration of sexuality, history, design, and human connection.
Snøhetta, the Oslo and New York-based architecture firm known for cultural landmarks like the Oslo Opera House and San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art expansion, approached the project with a joyful irreverence that’s perfectly matched to the Museum of Sex’s ethos. “Snøhetta’s collaboration with the Museum of Sex is rooted in positivity and joy,” explains Anne-Rachel Schiffmann, the firm’s Director of Interior Architecture. “We embraced the levity that characterises the museum, working to translate this perspective into a collection of interiors that embrace fun, laughter, and unity.”
Designing Desire: A Spatial Exploration of Pleasure
Snøhetta’s scope encompassed the building’s exterior, lobby, retail areas, bar, gallery spaces, and immersive installations. Central to the museum’s permanent collection is ‘Super Funland: Journey into the Erotic Carnival’, a grand experiential environment reimagining the eroticism of traditional carnivals through interactive exhibits and fantastical installations. The design team conceptualised over 20 immersive zones, including a show-stopping, 40-foot-wide rococo-style mermaid tank and fountain, alongside playful games and hallucinatory environments that invite adults to engage with topics of sensuality through humour, touch, and curiosity.
Rather than presenting desire as taboo, the museum’s design encourages openness, joy, and exploration, aligning form and function in a playful yet respectful tone. Visitors are invited not just to view but to participate, to wander through vivid interiors rich with colour, texture, and contrast. The Carnal Carnival bar exemplifies this ethos, designed as both a gathering place and a whimsical, escapist lounge that captures the spirit of the installations around it.
Architecture Meets Eroticism
The design is inherently architectural but avoids the sterile neutrality often found in museums. Instead, Snøhetta integrates materials and lighting to stimulate the senses. From mirrored corridors to plush textures, every space is curated to elicit a response—sometimes laughter, sometimes introspection, always engagement.
The entrance itself is inviting and unconventional, with a facade that hints at the surreal worlds within. Once inside, the spatial journey unfolds through a sequence of immersive rooms, dynamic pathways, and interactive displays that reflect the diversity of human sexuality and cultural attitudes towards it.
The overarching tone is clear: this is a museum for everyone—bold but never crude, humorous but never dismissive. It positions sexuality as a cultural lens, inviting conversation rather than controversy.
World-Class Exhibitions with a Provocative Edge
The museum’s inaugural exhibition features work by legendary Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama, renowned for his hyperrealistic depictions of sensual robotic figures. This marks Sorayama’s first solo exhibition in the United States, with four large-scale sculptures of his signature ‘sexy robots’ and a monumental triptych measuring over 14 feet tall, commanding attention as both futuristic icons and meditations on the human form.
The permanent Super Funland exhibition, already a hit in New York, has been expanded and reimagined for the Miami space. Part erotic theme park, part conceptual installation, it brings together performance art, design, and storytelling in a format that breaks traditional gallery conventions.
More Than a Museum: Why It’s Worth Visiting
The Museum of Sex Miami is a place to learn, to laugh, and to experience. Its bold design encourages visitors to shed inhibition and embrace curiosity. It repositions the museum not as a passive space, but as a cultural engine that celebrates form, desire, inclusivity, and play.
It’s also one of the most Instagrammable museums in Miami—a destination made for social sharing, without compromising its intellectual and educational mission. Whether you’re visiting Miami for the art scene, design week, or simply exploring the city’s alternative attractions, this museum should be high on your radar.
For those looking for cool things to do in Miami, especially for adults or couples, the Museum of Sex offers a truly unique cultural experience that combines design, art, architecture, and storytelling in a way no other venue in the city can. It also makes for an exciting addition to Miami’s nightlife and creative scene—perfect for a daytime visit or an unexpected evening detour.
A Celebration of Connection, Culture, and Craft
At its core, the Museum of Sex Miami is a triumph of collaborative design thinking—a space where play meets purpose, and where architecture becomes a language for openness and exploration. It reflects the mission of the museum to chronicle the evolution of human sexuality through art, artefacts, film, and performance, while positioning design as a central tool for engagement and access.
The space is purpose-built for conversation: with friends, with strangers, and with oneself. It invites visitors to reconsider not just what we know about sex and pleasure, but how we talk about it, engage with it, and honour its place in human culture.
All images: ©Hajime Sorayama. Courtesy of NANZUKA and Museum of Sex
Planning Your Visit
The Museum of Sex Miami is located in Allapattah, just minutes from Wynwood and Downtown. It’s easily accessible via public transport or by car, with ample parking nearby. Whether you’re visiting Miami for a weekend or a local seeking something completely different, this is one museum experience that’s guaranteed to surprise, entertain, and inspire.