Miami Beach SoundScape

Miami Beach, Florida, USA

Miami Beach Soundscape Park is the green heart of Frank Gehry’s New World Symphony campus, a world-class destination that marries music, design, and culture. The lush, contemporary park is the perfect place for visitors to unwind year-round under the shade of the trees or a starlit sky.

SoundScape Park is one of the final pieces of the Miami Beach City Center Redevelopment Plan, an ambitious redevelopment of 5.86 acres at the heart of Miami Beach’s City Center district.

Iconic pergolas embrace the park edges, their shape inspired by the puffy cumulous clouds inherent in South Florida’s tropical climate. Their hand-fabricated painted aluminium structures not only provide shade but also support the spectacular blooms of bougainvillea vines; highlighting a threshold of colour at the parks points of entry.

One of the park’s most prominent features is an unprecedented, distinctive, and ambitious audio-visual program that creates an outdoor theatre – offering free performances at concert level quality. The design of a family of custom architectural elements– the Ballet Bar, the Projection Tower, and the Media Hydrants – transformed what could have been an overwhelming number of park structures into an integrated and lyrical park element.

The soft, undulating topography is visually reinforced by a white concrete mosaic of meandering pathways, and provide options for informal seating through coordinated concrete walls. Veils of palms and specimen tree plantings work together to create an intimate oasis experience by concealing and reveal views. These two elements help to convey the illusion of a park much larger than its 2.5 acre envelope.

Photography: Robin Hill

Client

City of Miami Beach

Awards

2015 ASLA New York Chapter Honor Award, 2012 AIA Institute Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design, 2012 Excellence in Structural Engineering Award, National Council of Structural Engineers Associations, Frederic B. Stresau Award 2011, Florida ASLA's Award of Excellence 2011