Well, actually, it is about money. You'd better have serious bank if you're going to fly high at Icon Brickell. Apartments are priced between $500,000 for a tiny one bedroom and $2 million for a three-bedroom penthouse.

According to Perez's Related Group, the units are 90 percent sold. But as several condo openings have shown in the current economic climate, the proof lies in whether buyers can come up with money at closing time. Icon Brickell closings begin in early December.

But why deal with reality when Starck is here telling you this project was designed to ``make you lose the perception of real life.''

By the time you reach the two-acre pool deck on the 15th floor between two 57-story Icon towers, your stomach is just about doing flip-flops. You could be reacting to the breathtaking views. Or the impossibly long stretch of infinity swimming pools -- 300 feet of blue water in which to luxuriate while you gaze upon the cityscape.

Starck, who designed the still-evocative Delano interiors and garden when the hotel was redone in 1995, along with other celebrated hotel and residential projects around the world, reused some familiar tricks at Icon, especially by the pool: Here's his giant chess board, and a formal sitting-room setup using all-weather, classically-inspired sofas and chairs atop an area rug made of tiles.

Among the new tricks: A giant outdoor fireplace with formal mantle. And stadium steps at the east end of the pool deck that make you feel as you approach -- when all you see is bay and air and what seems to be a dramatic drop -- as if you really are going to fly. Once you get close enough you realize the drop-off is just a step that leads to another and then another. And then, of course, there's a railing below. Cushions will line the steps so that residents can sun while feeling suspended above the skyline.

''All of the Delano's ideas fit in one room of Icon,'' Starck says. ``Here, there is dimension. There is ambition.''

And he gives a lot of the credit to Perez, who is sitting beside him and is also driven to hyperbole by the moment.

NOTHING LIKE IT

''This building is here because of this incredible dreamer/control freak/maniac,'' Starck says. ``There is nothing else like it in the world. I have never made something like this. And I have never seen something like this. There are no people like Jorge who have the vision, who have the balls. In Europe, there are no people that give this much freedom to create. Here, we have the result of American structure and the foolishness of the Latin culture.''

''A lot of foolishness,'' the Cuban-born Perez says. ``I hate to speak in terms of crowning achievements, but without a doubt this is the most complete building we have ever done. This is our Rockefeller Center.''

OK, back to reality for a sec. What about the economic crisis? What about the people who have lost jobs and gobs of money in the stock market? What about the condo boom gone bust?

''I could go broke, but this building is still going to be here,'' says Perez, whose corporation is the biggest high-rise condo builder in Florida. ``This is still going to be my baby, and it's still wonderful for Miami. This is still going to be my building and Philippe's building. When all is said and done, does it really matter if I have a billion dollars or $200 million?''

Plus, who knows, maybe Starck is right: ``People will never go out of this happy crystal ball. I am not a businessman, but when everything goes down, it is always better to have something different. And this is very different. There will always be a client in the world who will want to come here.''

And, Miami is much more of a player now than it was when Starck was here doing the Delano, which no one can argue took South Beach to a higher level.

''Twenty years ago, there was a brutal energy,'' he says. ``Everyone was here, but it was not refined. Today, there is the same famous energy with a new sophistication. It is a city that is unique in the world.''

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