Monday, September 19, 2011

Pricey Parking: Miami Beach to Add Hadid Commission to Garage Collection

In Miami Beach, the parking garage is not dismissed as urban flotsam or jetsam.

After all, the critics generally don’t kick sand on Zaha Hadid and her contemporary take on architecture, and Hadid has just signed on to design Miami Beach’s newest parking garage, at Collins Park. The area is home to the Miami City Ballet, the Bass Museum, the City Library, and the Gansevoort, W and Setai luxury hotels.

Collins Park is also just blocks away from the Miami Beach Convention Center, the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center and the automobile-free Lincoln Road Mall. 

Hadid, the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize—considered perhaps the profession’s highest honor—joins a list of world renowned “starchitects” who have designed and overseen construction of new parking garages in the City of Miami Beach, the city pointed out in announcing news of the Hadid commission.

“Miami Beach’s parking garages have received world-wide media attention and have become tourist attractions themselves,” the city said. The city’s existing garages include the Frank-Gehry designed, city-owned Pennyslvania Avenue Garage; Herzog & de Meuron’s “minimalist, edgy space” at 1111 Lincoln Road; Arquitectonica’s Ballet Valet Garage at 7th Street and Collins Avenue, and a structure at Sunset Harbour, currently under construction.

Parking in Style in Miami Beach: Arquitectonica’s Ballet Valet Garage

Herzog & de Meuron’s “minimalist, edgy space” at 1111 Lincoln Road

Others are Enrique Norton’s recent creation at 16th Street and Drexel Avenue, and Perkins and Will’s new City Center Garage Project at 18th Street and Meridian Avenue.

City Center Garage, by Perkins & Will

“Hadid’s new design is expected to continue to raise the bar for garages worldwide,” the city said, adding that city officials are currently working with Hadid to determine commencement dates for the new garage’s design plans and construction.

Hadid is the architect of the Aquatic Center for the 2012 London Olympics and the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, and has designed signature building structures around the world.

Zaha Hadid Architects

‘Transformative’ design: Zaha Hadid’s BMW Central Building, Leipzig, Germany.

“This is a great opportunity for the City of Miami Beach to expand its commitment to leading-edge architectural design,” said Matti Bower, Miami Beach mayor. “Even our parking garages are more than a group of parking spaces. Some have become destinations within themselves and have attained individual iconic status.”
 
In the case of this particular news-bureau editor, any trip to Miami Beach may be “sans automobile.” Not sure the expense account can bear the weight of parking in “starchitect” garages.