What was once a disused public park on the bay except for the occasional homeless encampment or ecstasy-enhanced rave is now a large construction site buzzing with activity - eventually to be home to two museums and a nicer, albeit smaller, public park that people will hopefully actually use. The first portion of the big Museum Park project to be finished will be the Perez Art Museum Miami, the new home of the Miami Art Museum. Designed by Swiss starchitects Herzog & de Meuron, the museum should be open in time for Art Basel this year. Curbed took a tour of the construction site last week, with photographer David Rosario tagging along, for a good thorough look at the rapidly progressing museum.
By the same architects as the much, much lauded 1111 Lincoln Road, the new PAMM will have lots of fun new features:
1) Huge, deep terraces shaded by concrete and wood louvered canopies, with hanging gardens. The canopies will be deep enough to shade the glass walls from direct sunlight throughout the year.
2) A grand entry staircase leading up from the park, and an even bigger staircase leading down to the bay that will double as an outdoor amphitheater.
3) The main auditorium - a feature not used too often in most museums - will double as a very grand staircase to the upper-level exhibition spaces and can either be subdivided into one or two theater spaces and staircase.
4) The exhibition spaces are arranged as a balance between the traditional enfilade (long row) of rooms and a more scattered arrangement.
5) The first floor will contain a restaurant and bar, to the surprise of no one. This is Miami.
6) Those aforementioned glass walls will let park-goers see the art within, especially with the museum ablaze with lights at night, while the canopies protect exhibition galleries from the sun.
7) Administrative offices and educational spaces are upstairs, on the third level, providing spectacular views of downtown, the park, and possibly a gigantic casino on the Miami Herald Building's former site.
· Perez Art Museum Miami coverage [Curbed Miami]
· Museum Park coverage [Curbed Miami]
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