Tomorrow, Miami's iconic Bacardi Building, the former headquarters of Bacardi USA, will be handed over to YoungArts at a price significantly below market value, to then be converted into YoungArts' first national headquarters. Internationally acclaimed architect Frank Gehry has been retained to design a master plan that preserves the historic tower building and 'jewel box' annex while creating a "multidisciplinary arts campus and park."
Both the tower and annex will be preserved, except for minor interior alterations. A smaller office building just to the north will be replaced by a performance space of Gehry's design, with the surface parking lot behind it being turned into a park that connects with the current plaza and rear green space.
Of the new performance space, Gehry said to the New York Times "It's not going to be a building that's architecturally published in any way," meaning the attention that his projects usually get, "But it's a place I want to go."
· Gehry to turn Bacardi Campus into Arts Complex [New York Times]
· YoungArts to move into Miami's Bacardi Complex [Miami Herald]
[The Bacardi Building, Via Curbed Miami Flickr Pool/Phillip Pessar]
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