Miami Civic Center
We have been awarded second prize in the International Urban Design Competition MIAMI CIVIC CENTER. Our design of the new city center of Miami was selected from 84 entries.
plan
European urbanity in the grid
Miami is the fourth-largest urbanized area in the United States, behind New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, counting more than 5 million inhabitants. Miami is well-known around the world. However, Downtown Miami doesn’t represent this fame. The dominant grid doesn’t accommodate pleasant urban spaces or iconic buildings that lift the scenery. But most particular it lacks a hart, Downtown Miami is not a place worth to visit for fun or to ramble and discover the city. Despite this, we see many opportunities at the given site to realize a heart, a proud city center worthwhile visiting and a pleasant place to live. We like to propose a city center that really focuses on the pedestrian. A center that provides large squares that facilitates events and function as meeting place for large crowds . We need this kind of spaces that give pride, grandeur, public and personal memories. Further more a center needs alleys to courtyards and places to be discovered, spaces that provide a feeling of comfort. It’s this small scale quality you find in historical citycenters of European towns that we transformed to the grid of Miami combined with large squares, green parks and a lively marina. To become the civic midpoint of Miami the new center has to be connected to downtown Miami in a way that the new development fits in perfectly. Continuation of the grid is essential to achieve a organization according to Miami’s identity. Resetting Downtown Miami means that the new development contributes to and co-exists with the exisitng streets.