The Miami Herald has just announced that Zaha Hadid will be designing her first skyscraper in the Western hemisphere in Miami: America’s Next Great Architectural City. The female powerhouse has been commissioned to transform a waterfront property, currently occupied by a BP Station at 1000 Biscayne Boulevard, predominantly into a residential high rise. The skyscraper will rise above the neighboring Museum Park and fill a void in the wall of towering condos, commonly referred to as the “Biscayne Wall”. Details of the design are expected to be released next year.
As we reported last year, Zaha was also selected to design a Miami Beach parking garage at Collins Park, which was approved for construction by the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board last month.
Check out the preliminary renderings of the Collins Park garage, after the break…
FXFOWLE Architects shared with us their custom-design for the inaugural Miami Project art fair. Their installation, known as the ‘FXFOWLE Lounge’, features a free-standing architectural pavilion housed within a well-appointed lounge and bar area. The pavilion – which pairs technologically-sophisticated scripting software with simple museum board – comprises 180 varying segments that, together, take the form of complex structural geometries. More images and architects’ description after the break.
High profile architects BIG (Bjarke Ingels) and OMA (Rem Koolhaas) are in a close battle to win the redevelopment competition for the design of the Miami Beach Convention Center. Recently put on hold by a corruption probe and procedural concerns, Miami Beach’s ambitious plans to create a 52-acre convention center district are again progressing toward a crucial vote by elected officials. The committee’s recommendations will be reviewed by interim City Manager Kathie Brooks, who will issue her own recommendation to city commissioners. Commissioners could vote on the project and development teams Dec. 12. More information after the break.
Taking place October 18th at 5:00pm, Chad Oppenheim will deliver his ‘Enhance Life’ lecture at Florida International University where he will be showing projects of various scales that his firm, Oppenheim Office, is completing around the world that serve the main goal of his mission which is to enhance life. Through a deep respect for place, the architecture of Chad Oppenheim serves to enrich its surroundings, the lives of its inhabitants, and its patrons. For more information, please visit here.
DawnTown, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting architecture in Miami, is announcing an open call for portfolios for their Design Build competition. Now in its fifth year, Dawntown seeks the talents of a designer or design team to create a low cost, innovative, and temporary installation in Miami. The competition is open to architects, artists, and all creative professionals. Designers can work individually or collaboratively in teams, with the requirement that at least one team member is located in the United States. Dawntown Design Build is made possible by the generous grant of the John S and James L Knight Foundation and The Miami Downtown Development Authority. Don’t miss out on a chance to be a part of this inaugural architectural event for Miami! Entries will be collected from September 17th 2012 to October 31st 2012, with finalists being announced on November 15th 2012. To register and for more details, please visit here.
After years of planning and widespread community support, the new Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science, designed by Grimshaw Architects, broke ground in Downtown Miami’s Museum Park just last week. The groundbreaking ceremony took place at the museum’s new site overlooking Biscayne Bay, marking the continuation of Miami’s rise as one of the world’s most culturally rich cities. The groundbreaking event marks the beginning of construction, with the new museum scheduled to open to the public by early 2015. More images and project description after the break.
MY- AMI, A virtual and digital exhibit of architectural photography by Paul Clemence, has been extended to be on view until January 17th as part of the Design into Miami event, which started in November. A look at Miami’s unique urban landscape can be seen through Clemence’s refined eyes.
From the mundane to the exquisite, from “starchitects” to ” anonymous”, from glamourous Lapidus to cutting edge Herzog & de Meuron and contemporary Arquitectonica and Chad Oppenheim. From dyzzing glass atriums to swimming pools ( a most Miamian architectural “equipment” ), Clemence gives us his take on how he perceives the city. The photos selected for the show speaks of details, of moods and brings us a feel of what is to be in that constant evolving, cosmopolitan, creative and liberating city, its colors, its shapes and even a little splash.
The exhibit will be partially in display at the RS showroom and continuing online at here. More images after the break.
London-based architect David Adjaye was selected for the 2011 Designer of the Year Award by Design Miami – a global forum for design that highlights influential collectors, gallerists, designers, curators and critics from around the world, presenting annual fairs in Miami, USA and Basel, Switzerland. Design Miami praised Adjaye for his “ingenious use of materials and unique ability to showcase light coupled with his democratized approach to the architectural process.”
BIG + Kollision + Schmidhuber & Partner team up to bring BIG’s vision of future urban mobility to life for AUDI at Design Miami/ 2011, running from November 30th through December 4th adjacent to Art Basel Miami Beach. BIG originally presented the concept as an entry for the 2010 AUDI Urban Future Award introducing a future city paved with a digital surface that liberates the streets from existing boundaries and allows for a new flexibility of public use. More images and project description after the break.
Krueck + Sexton Architects have been selected by the GSA Design Excellence Program for the firm’s design of the Federal Office Building in Miramar, Florida just outside of Miami. The 375,000 square foot building is designed with three goals in mind: reduce energy, resources and consumption, incorporate high performance buildings materials and systems and harvest renewable energy sources available on the site. Currently out to bid, the project is scheduled for completion in mid-2014.
DawnTown Miami invites you to its very first exhibition, titled ‘The First Four Years of Ideas’ which will open on November 9th, 2011 at the University of Miami School of Architecture. The opening and reception begins at 6:30pm at the Irvin Korach Gallery, and marks the first retrospective ever produced by DawnTown.
The First Four Years of Ideas takes a look back at the very best works produced from their unique competitions. On display will be the winning entries from all four years, as well as curated works, selected by DawnTown’s directors. A video display will be also being present, streaming every entry ever submitted. More information on the exhibition after the break.
USA Today has put together a list of city neighborhoods which are satiated with activity, areas which offer a “great slice of urban life.” These districts trend from the urban vicinity to its very core, each in itself exemplifying the revitalization of the American city. The list includes regions which have been influenced by deliberate urban revitalization projects, such as High Line Park in Chelsea; while other neighborhoods have experienced an influx of a younger populace which has contributed to its growth, such as Lawrenceville in Pittsburgh.
See the 10 Up and Coming Urban Neighborhoods after the break.
Performance Architecture shared with us their design for the University of Miami’s Frost College of Music Center for Experiential Music. The performance building is foreseen as a “jewel” on Lake Osceola, and its design is a pure reflection of the University’s innovative teaching philosophy. Collaborative teaching and learning are fully facilitated by this proposed structure, which allows multiple facets of interaction among its inhabitants.
Learn more about The University of Miami Frost College of Music Center for Experiential Music after the break.
The idea behind the first prize design of the Metromover Station by Office-247 is that of a folded landscape that, through its form, generates a series of connections at different levels, transforming the urban condition of downtown Miami. Their proposal aimed to shift the position of the station and place it laterally, in between the two new museums in Dawntown Miami.
The proposal is meant to create a third urban parameter that, enclosing the plaza towards the highway, opens up the space southwards Bicentennial Park. Performing such an urban action, the station becomes a new space within the city, where a new kind of civic condition can be expressed. More images and architects’ description after the break.
