US architect Chad Oppenheim has called for a greater ‘wow factor’ in design, arguing that creating striking and memorable forms is every bit as important as making buildings functional.

In an exclusive interview in the latest issue of CLADmag, the founder of Miami-based studio Oppenheim Architecture + Design, said: “We have a unique ability to balance the poetry and the proficiency of buildings, the fantasy as well as the functionality. I love this idea of taking your dreams and translating them into a built reality.”

The architect is well-known for his dramatic, often outrageous designs, including a Jenga-like clifftop house for Hollywood filmmaker Michael Bay and the forthcoming Wadi Rum Desert Resort in Jordan, which will be carved out of the natural stone.

He told CLAD he gets a kick out of designing buildings that leave people speechless, before reaching for the superlatives.

“I think it is about kind of crafting paradise and trying to understand what that means for different places,” he said. “Miami has been selling visions of itself as a paradise, and the work that we’ve done there has always been capitalising on that notion of pleasure and delight and beauty and a better way of living.

“It’s not an elevated thought or an ethereal concept that our buildings tap into – it’s something that you feel in your heart,” he added. “You feel it and you sense it and it blows your mind, no matter if you’ve studied in the greatest architecture and design schools and you’re well versed in architectural theory and history, or you are someone who has never even graduated high school.”

Oppenheim conceded that how a building feels is equally important as appearances, saying “you have to match the level of amazement, power and drama with the same level of comfort.”

He used the example of designing hotels – as he has done for brands including Starwood and Mandarin Oriental – where “the brief is not just to create something interesting, beautiful and dynamic architecturally, it’s also to create something wonderful experientially and operationally.”

On the subject of the Jordan resort – which will have the usual five-star facilities, but no heating or electrical fittings in reference to a tribal way of life – Oppenheim revealed his studio is creating “inhabitable land-art installations that rip you from your normal world and bring you to this place.”

“It’s very much tied in with nature: the sunrises, the sunsets, the moon, the breezes,” he said. “I’ve always tried to express this purity of design to create a powerful sense of connecting with the earth and the world around you.”

The full interview with Chad Oppenheim is featured on page 114 of the newly-released issue of CLADmag, which can be read both in print and online, via Digital Turning Pages and as a text PDF download.