Friday, April 06, 2007

5 Architects Make Cut to Design Miami Science Museum


Five world renowned architectural firms made the cut to design Miami's new Science Museum along Biscayne Bay. They are:
  • Grimshaw Architects
    This UK company is the same firm that designed the enclosed baseball stadium shown at the right of the MVB home page. Shown on the right is a building they designed for the Eden Project (2001).




  • Steven Holl Architects
    Named America's Best Architect by Time Magazine in 2001, we particularly like his Busan Cinema Complex in Pusan, Korea.







  • Polshek Partnership Architects
    Shown at the right is the New York firm's re-imagining of the Hayden Planetarium for New York's American Museum of Natural History Rose Center for Earth and Space.



  • Wilkinson Eyre Architects
    Of the five firms, this UK company's design for the New Crystal Palace Exhibition Hall and Sculpture Garden in London intrigues us the most. Wrapped in glass, photovoltaic cells are embedded in the "skin" to provide solar power while "gill-like" louvres provide natural ventilation.

  • Zaha Hadid Architects
    This UK firm, headed by Ms. Zaha Hadid, an Iraqi born British citizen, is one of the bright lights of deconstructivist architecture. Her work is right out of a Frank Herbert "Dune" novel, something very other-worldly and a whole lot of fun to look at. The building pictured to the right is her design for the Nuragic and Contemporary Art Museum in Cagliari, Italy (2007). She is the only one of the five who has won the celebrated Pritzker Prize in architecture (2004).


Three other firms were chosen to submit proposals for the "executive architect" role. They are:
These eight firms were culled from 35 submissions. Final architect selection is scheduled for May 1st and 2nd in what is promised to be a "transparent process" conducted in a public forum. There is no mention in the museum's press release whether or not the public's opinion will really be considered. At least it won't be left in the hands of one person to choose the architect as it was for architects for our new art museum. Yes, we're still disappointed Gehry didn't get chosen for that project. And, yes, Herzog and de Meuron (2001 Pritzker Prize) are more than worthy and we look forward to seeing what they whipped up for the art museum, but we have a jones for Gehry-- despite his disappointing design for Miami Beach's New World Symphony. We are also disappointed that not one local architectural firm made the cut when there are so many worthy ones.

UpDate (5/2/07): Grimshaw wins.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish they would spend their time trying to raise money. How do they expect to find the money to move?

Anonymous said...

Please note, Grimshaw did NOT have any involvement in the design of the baseball stadium on your home page.

Verticus Erectus said...

Oh, really, then please take it up with these guys: Sports Venue Technology which shows the same picture with photo credit going to Grimshaw.

Verticus Erectus said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Andres Rozo E. said...

ITS A LOCAL THING!!
It is important for the project & the community involved that the conceptual design of a project like this would be developed by a local Architect, foreign Architects are not as familiar with the real context as local Architects. Promoting local businesses is also convenient for the city. A open competition is always a good idea.