Miami Beach Skate

May 2022

The aspiration of this project is to develop a cohesive strategy for a youth center that will act not only as a beacon and place for the congregation for the community but also as a design that will stay with the community in the long run as it helps adapt its environment to climate change. In the subtropical climate of South Florida, sea level rise is an impending threat to how we navigate and experience our urban environment. In this project, the main goal was to maintain the overall experience around the site, keeping the building low to the ground like its neighbors with adaptive strategies in place to mitigate the harmful effects of flooding. Instead of evading the impending water by building upwards, the building is attached to a base designed to act as a sponge, soaking up the stormwater and distributing it to be used within the building through the plumbing systems.

My partner Robert Upton and I designed the project around the concept of the central courtyard, ornamented by the large center point Banyan Tree. The central courtyard is the factor that links all of the building sectors together, unifying what seems a motley of programs, ranging from classrooms to a skate shop. Overall, the design pulls inspiration from art deco concepts prevalent in the Miami Beach environment, aiming to develop a space that blends into the rich environment surrounding it, while also preparing for the dangers in the future.