A case study of the urban development project at Miami.

1. MIAMI BEACH SOUNDSCAPE
URBAN DESIGN CASE STUDY
ANKITA KHANTE | BARSHA AMARENDRA | SHIVANGI NEGI

2. BACKGROUND
 Frank Gehry’s New World Symphony
failed to attract the young crowd of
Miami, and failed to be the cultural
center that it initially promised to be.
 The site had Frank Gehry’s white Art
Deco building in the center with
parking on both the sides, reducing
the beauty attached to the space.
 The Miami City Center lacked an open
green space where people could meet
and spend quality time together.

3. ISSUES AND CONCERNS
 The redevelopment plan had to play a counter part to Frank Gehry’s unclad and reposed Music School. It
had to complement the architect Frank Gehry’s creation of purist Art Deco style.
 The design had to be in context with the vibrant culture of the city of Miami and serve as an open and
inviting gathering space.
 The climatic considerations of providing shade and choosing foliage for the same was a main concern
for the design program.
 The space had to be more of soft-scape than hard paved surfaces due to the tropical climate of Miami
and to balance the concrete of the building.

4. ABOUT PROJECT
Location: Washington Ave, Florida
Urban Designers:
West 8 urban design & landscape architecture
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 2.5 acre (1 hectare)
Cost : $10 million
Time Taken: 2 years
Material: Titanium forms, Gavanized Steel,
White Stucco, Concrete , Mosaic, Aluminum,
Bougainvillea, Palm Trees, Carpet grass.
Awards:
2015 ASLA New York Chapter Honor Award
2012 AIA Institute Honor Award for Regional and Urban
Design
2012 Excellence in Structural Engineering Award

5. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
 To establish a new precedent for parks in the City of Miami Beach.
 To respond to site-specific conditions, context and program for this public space to feel ‘green’ and
more like a park.
 To reflect the spirit and vitality of Miami Beach and support a multitude of day and night uses, either
under the shade of the trees or a starlit sky.
 Main goal of the ambitious project: to add to the existing building in attracting the younger generations
to the world of classical music. “It’s not meant to scream out in the neighbourhood. The strategy behind
the design is to lure in the community, especially those who might be put off by classical music"

6. VISION
“ We hoped to give Lincoln Park [in Miami Beach] a sense that it is a place where people can meet. One of
the simple tools to do that was to deliver shade where people could sit in daytime to enjoy ocean breezes.
At night, the park will have gigantic outdoor video projections on the wall of the New World Symphony.
People will sit there like in a forest at sunset when the orange of the sun illuminates everything in a surreal
way.
-Adriaan Geuze, founding partner and design director of West 8
“The Park was to be like poetry and music, to be experienced by the public, complementing the initial vision
of Frank Gehry and New World Symphony Commission to attract people to the richness of music. The park
was supposed to be a place where you can dream about a non-realistic, non-time-related world.”
-Valley Crest, New World Symphony Commission
“The space promises to enrich the public spaces of Miami and add a new green dimension to the re-
development plan for the city center that would give us a space to relax , rejuvenate and reconnect with
ourselves and each other.”
- Localities of Miami city

7. DESIGN ELEMENTS
UNIQUE FEATURES THAT EXPRESS THE VISION BEHIND THE PROJECT

8.  The soft, undulating topography is reinforced visually
by white concrete mosaic of meandering pathways,
and white concrete seating walls that providing options
for informal seating.
 The seating walls are broken up by smooth egg shaped
moulds and come flush with an undulating lawn to add
depth and intrigue to the flat South Florida landscape.
 These two critical elements of the park design allow
Miami Beach Soundscape to convey the illusion of a
park larger than its humble inherent size.
 Miami Beach’s Art Deco style stucco concrete is
evident in the curvature and abstract forms of Gehry’s
architecture and is complemented by these design
elements.
PATHWAYS & SEATING

9.  Several pergolas embrace the park edges; their shape
inspired by the puffy cumulous clouds inherent in South
Florida’s tropical climate.
 The hand-fabricated painted aluminium structures not only
provide shade but will support the spectacular blooms of
bougainvillea vines; highlighting a threshold of colour at the
parks points of entry.
 Although the bougainvillea are yet to fill out their horn
shaped pergolas, this leaves the shadowy web to create
patterns on the entry plaza concrete.
PERGOLAS

10. WALL CASTS
 The projection wall of the adjacent
Symphony Hall building is an ideal
‘canvas’ for video projection
artists.
 West 8 has designed a projection
tower and ‘Ballet Bar’ to house the
extensive multimedia equipment
provided within the park. These
are all imbibed as architectural
elements to the park.
 This allows an ever-changing
exhibit that would occur outside
the confines of a traditional
museum experience.

11. DESIGN PRINCIPLES
A Family of architectural elements had to be
positioned in a way that was technically
precise to meet desired sound quality
objectives but also integrate it sensitively into
the landscape.
The principles of design adopted as such was
based on an integrated space creation and
circulation amidst these park design
elements.
Integration principles of design elements.

12. SITE PLAN

13. CIRCULATION
 Giant steel pergolas with bright pink bougainvillea act
as place markers that draw the user in on three sides.
 To give a feeling of open and inviting space, the site
has been left without marking any boundary with
fences.
 In plan, the pathways immediately strike an artistic
cord due to its organic nature , but it gives the
concerns of its walkability with the sporadic
pathways.
 A multitude of trails jet into the artificially created
palm forest.
 The jagged main pathways allow natural walking
patterns with seats lines along them.

14. SPACE CREATION
 The Montgomery Palm, supplies dappled shade all over the park while not
compromising visibility with their slender tall trunks.
 These ‘Veils’ of palm thus conceal and reveal views further reinforcing the
experience of being within an oasis that is much larger.
 In other areas, sculptural oak tree groupings provide full shade and a more
private lawn seating area.
 Aside from being a foyer and plaza space for the New World Symphony, the
park provides outdoor screening of musical and movie events with a state-of-
the-art projector and acoustic ‘ballet bars’. The bars contain speakers and
wiring and also, demarcate the main amphitheatre lawn.

15. IMPLEMENTATION
 The design of the park is based on
series of overlapping form s
inspired by similar forms within
Gehry’s building.
 The result is distinct matrix of
varied sized paths that outline a
patchwork of lawn areas. Dense
planting of palm trees is organized
to reinforce , but not strictly mimic
the complex ground pattern.
 Bougainvillea covered metal
pergolas echo the trees and denote
primary entrance to the park.

16. DESIGN ISSUES
 The open air movie and concert screening at night leads to disruption of peaceful night time slumber.
 The 24x7 design structure usability of the park creates an issue with cleaning and maintenance as there
is no specific time for it.
 During clashes of timing between symphony and park wall cast screening, parking is an issue as these
are main arterial roads on all four sides.
 Due to the tropical climate of Miami with unpredictable rains, shelter from rains becomes necessary.
However, the soundscape provides only shade from the tropical sun but no shelter from rains.
 During the monsoon time when the grass is wet, it becomes difficult to sit on the grass and watch
movies as there is no other seating provided for it.

17. OVERALL DESIGN PROPOSAL- QUANTITATIVE
 A relationship that defines the building as a closed
container in direct opposition to the park; which
defines all the elements of dynamics and static
movement within its confines.
 During the day the park works as a transitory space in
the city, interconnecting all of the adjacent streets. The
design of the pedestrian circulation is related with the
interior of the theater as a mirrored relationship, but
the main feature, which links the structure with the
park, is the projection that happens in the NWS main
facade.
 It suddenly transforms the 7,000 squarefoot blank wall
into a window inside the theater, revealing the
performance happening in its interior; technology, as
linking of program.

18. OVERALL DESIGN PROPOSAL- QUANTITATIVE
 Consequently the function of the park shifts from an active
transitory area to a static voyeuristic area, independent from the
park’s architecture and landscape.
 It invites an organic distribution pattern of participants that seat
freely, making use of the irregular green areas left while
circulation paths are lay inactive. Chairs, blankets, groups and
couples create a very noticeable boundary between private and
public space relationships.
 The park becomes an extension of people’s living room’s, creating
a virtual extension of private space into public space.

19. MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
 The Miami Soundscape runs an online portal where
localities get updated on the latest schedules of
screening movies, and music concerts.
 In coordination with the New World Symphony
Commission they organize America’s orchestral
academy becoming cultural icon in center of Miami
beach.
 The space is used for joggers and walkers in the early
morning and in the evenings and can be freely
accessed .
 The management committee hosts weekend laughter
therapy sessions and under the sun art and music
classes to the young kids, making it a source and
destination for creativity and inspiration.

20. FINANCE AND MAINTENANCE
 The finance for the project came from the Miami beach commission, an autonomous body for the
maintenance of public spaces in Miami.
 The maintenance of the completed project is done by the New World Symphony, the adjacent building.
All shows are organised in sync with this committee.
 The cleaning of the movie/outdoor concert area is done as part of the public awareness initiation,
wherein, the crowd is supposed to clean up the space they used before they leave. Due to the
participatory nature, it leads to an attachment for the space apart from saving on the budget.

21. DESIGN OUTCOME (PERFORMANCE)- QUALITATIVE
 Since opening of the park it has seen incredible attendance and success in the community.
 During the day it is filled with locals and visitors eating lunch, enjoying the shade, playing with children
and admiring the building. After the dark the park is transformed into spectacle of video, art, music, and
film.
 Circulation traffic slows around the park creating on more node of events.
 During the Wall Cast event the energy of the city is fragmented and in its changes the relationship with
the city’s inhabitants. People walking in Lincoln Road, the adjacent street mall, get sidetracked and
almost “funneled” into the park.
 The synergy is so obvious, present and felt that even official vehicles such as Police and Fire Rescues turn
off the sirens of their vehicles. It creates a perfect atmosphere between the public space and the rest of
the city.

22. DESIGN OUTCOME (PERFORMANCE)- QUALITATIVE
The project was listed as one of the top 10 in “ Best
Outdoor Movie Theaters” by Travel- Leisure Magazine in
America.