Miami's Colorful Guard Shacks Reflect Queer Joy of Creator

A new book by photographer Tommy Kwak, Lifeguard Towers: Miami, celebrates Miami Beach’s iconic guard shacks as designed by queer architect William Lane.Out Traveler spoke to Lane and shared some images of the whimsical guard towers in our Fall 2022 print issue, and also present them here.

Photography by Martin Torres 

Lane cites a mix of influences and inspirations for the towers, which are both utilitarian surveillance structures and “activators of public space — in this case of the beach. They are anthropomorphic and provide the shoreline with a unique formation of characters that are an expression of the identity and culture of the region,” he adds. The architect likens the towers to sentries on the sands and compares them to the monumental stone moai figures guarding Easter Island.

Recalling how the guard towers came into being, Lane says, “After living in the East Village in the 1970s and 1980s, where I studied art and architecture at Cooper Union, I moved to Miami Beach in 1992. Soon after arriving, Hurricane Andrew hit Miami and destroyed the city’s lifeguard towers. In a show of support, I designed five new lifeguard towers for the City of Miami Beach; each of them located on Lummus Park on Ocean Drive.”

The pink round tower, Lane notes, “was designed in collaboration with my good friend, artist Kenny Scharf.”

Lane was honored when, in 2017 — 25 years after his initial creations — Miami asked him to design updated replacements for 36 existing lifeguard towers. Pulling inspiration from his original work, Lane created six new silhouettes, which he transformed in a kaleidoscope of palettes to add glorious, art deco pops of color along a seven-mile stretch of sand.

Overall, Lane says, “Those towers had roots in the emerging art scene at that time in the Lower East Side and particularly the politics of queer identity. In a way they were a reaction to the hyper-masculine scene in the West Village and strived to embrace and reflect a wider LGBTQ+ population.”

One can now imagine the beach as one long runway, Lane says.

These fierce divas of the sands speak of the community’s diversity, while serving tourists and locals alike colorful whimsy and exuberant queer joy.