flexiblefullpage -
billboard - default
interstitial1 - interstitial
catfish1 - bottom
Currently Reading

A mixed-used building to rise above Fort Lauderdale, with views of downtown and the ocean

Building Team

A mixed-used building to rise above Fort Lauderdale, with views of downtown and the ocean

Two 43-story rental towers will feature terraces and balconies of varying sizes, providing each unit its own identity.


By Novid Parsi, Contributing Editor | June 13, 2022
Ombelle ODA towers ext 1
Courtesy ODA.

ODA, a New York-based architecture and design studio, recently released renderings of Ombelle, a project including two residential towers in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Dependable Equities hired ODA to design the architecture, interiors, and landscaping for the mixed-use development. Project plans were submitted to the city in May, beginning the approval process.

With more than 1.5 million square feet, Ombelle will include 1,100 rental units. The tapering forms of the two 43-story towers step away from each other as they rise, giving the units views of downtown Fort Lauderdale and the ocean. The facade comprises “a delicate exoskeleton,” according to a statement from ODA. Its outer shell features terraces and balconies that vary in depth, length, and density, which is meant to provide each unit a sense of individual identity.

“We are looking to establish a high-end, condo-like experience for renters,” Isaac Schlesinger, head of Dependable Equities, said in the statement.

The amenity package includes two pools: one with landscaping and a nearby work lounge, the other a larger infinity pool on the building’s edge. Amenities also include an outdoor bar area and chef’s kitchen, garden, gym, game room, library, private dining room, spin room, spa, dance studio, and yoga studio.

An urban plaza sits at the base of the building, connecting to a double-height colonnade around the perimeter. Also on its ground floor, Ombelle has over 11,000 square feet of commercial space for retail and restaurants.

“We are thrilled to be part of Fort Lauderdale’s transformation into a robust, forward-thinking city and international destination,” Eran Chen, founder and executive director, ODA, said in the statement. “From the beautifully landscaped public plaza that carves into the corner of the site, to the staggered outdoor balconies that create unique sky gardens for each apartment, Ombelle celebrates this exciting new chapter of design in the city.”

Building Team:

Owner and/or developer: Dependable Equities

Design architect: ODA

Architect of record: ODA

Ombelle ODA towers ext 2
Courtesy ODA.
Ombelle ODA ext 3
Courtesy ODA.
Ombelle ext 4
Courtesy ODA.

 

Related Stories

| Aug 11, 2010

Robert F. Kennedy Main Justice Building

The Robert F. Kennedy Main Justice Building houses the U.S. Attorney General's office, the Justice Department headquarters, and the largest historic art collection of any GSA-built facility, so its renovation had to be performed with the utmost care. Offices housing hundreds of lawyers and staff had to remain operational during the construction of a brand new $3.

| Aug 11, 2010

Silver Award: Please Touch Museum at Memorial Hall Philadelphia, Pa.

Built in 1875 to serve as the art gallery for the Centennial International Exhibition in Fairmount Park, Memorial Hall stands as one of the great civic structures in Philadelphia. The neoclassical building, designed by Fairmount Park Commission engineer Hermann J. Schwarzmann, was one of the first buildings in America to be designed according to the principles of the Beaux Arts movement.

| Aug 11, 2010

Bronze Award: Garfield High School, Seattle, Wash.

Renovations to Seattle's historic Garfield High School focused mainly on restoring the 85-year-old building's faded beauty and creating a more usable and modern interior. The 243,000-sf school (whose alumni include the impresario Quincy Jones) was so functionally inadequate that officials briefly considered razing it.

| Aug 11, 2010

Managing the K-12 Portfolio

In 1995, the city of New Haven, Conn., launched a program to build five new schools and renovate and upgrade seven others. At the time, city officials could not have envisioned their program morphing into a 17-year, 44-school, $1.5 billion project to completely overhaul its entire portfolio of K-12 facilities for nearly 23,000 students.

| Aug 11, 2010

Tall ICF Walls: 9 Building Tips from the Experts

Insulating concrete forms have a long history of success in low-rise buildings, but now Building Teams are specifying ICFs for mid- and high-rise structures—more than 100 feet. ICF walls can be used for tall unsupported walls (for, say, movie theaters and big-box stores) and for multistory, load-bearing walls (for hotels, multifamily residential buildings, and student residence halls).

| Aug 11, 2010

Financial Wizardry Builds a Community

At 69 square miles, Vineland is New Jersey's largest city, at least in geographic area, and it has a rich history. It was established in 1861 as a planned community (well before there were such things) by the utopian Charles Landis. It was in Vineland that Dr. Thomas Welch found a way to preserve grape juice without fermenting it, creating a wine substitute for church use (the town was dry).

| Aug 11, 2010

Team Tames Impossible Site

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the nation's oldest technology university, has long prided itself on its state-of-the-art design and engineering curriculum. Several years ago, to call attention to its equally estimable media and performing arts programs, RPI commissioned British architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw to design the Curtis R.

| Aug 11, 2010

Silver Award: Hanna Theatre, Cleveland, Ohio

Between February 1921 and November 1922 five theaters opened along a short stretch of Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland, all of them presenting silent movies, legitimate theater, and vaudeville. During the Great Depression, several of the theaters in the unofficial “Playhouse Square” converted to movie theaters, but they all fell into a death spiral after World War II.

| Aug 11, 2010

Biograph Theater

Located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood, Victory Gardens Theater Company has welcomed up-and-coming playwrights for 33 years. In 2004, the company expanded its campus with the purchase of the Biograph Theater for its new main stage. Built in 1914, the theater was one of the city's oldest remaining neighborhood movie houses, and it was part of Chicago's gangster lore: in 1934, John Dillin...

| Aug 11, 2010

Special Recognition: Triple Bridge Gateway, Port Authority Bus Terminal New York, N.Y.

Judges saw the Triple Bridge Gateway in Midtown Manhattan as more art installation than building project, but they were impressed at how the illuminated ramps and bridges—14 years in the making—turned an ugly intersection into something beautiful. The three bridges span 9th Avenue at the juncture where vehicles emerge from the Lincoln Tunnel heading to the Port Authority of New Yor...

boombox1 - default
boombox2 -
native1 -

More In Category


Giants 400

Top 75 Engineering Firms for 2023

Kimley-Horn, WSP, Tetra Tech, Langan, and IMEG head the rankings of the nation's largest engineering firms for nonresidential buildings and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.



halfpage1 -

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021