Latin American Art Museum (LAAM)

LAAM is an iconic addition to the vibrant collection of landmark new buildings ringing Biscayne Bay and defining downtown Miami’s new cityscape. Simultaneously rational and sensuous, LAAM’s architectural and programmatic concept is expressed through subtle degrees of articulation, revealing contiguous and complementary functions via form and massing.

Key to the design and LAAM’s goal to showcase Latin American art is an outdoor sculpture park. The overall development is anchored at the ground level by a public realm that begins with a generous open plaza, merging it with the building vertically via a series of stepped terraces and verdant tiered gardens. Public circulation extends throughout the terraces of the building to form a continuous sculpture park wrapping the museum. A collection of monumental sculptures by renowned artists are displayed in the plaza and on every terrace level.

Each level is indicative of a different programmatic element, with the transparent facade and extruded terraces revealing their activities to passers-by—a civically-scaled lobby and gathering place; innovative conferencing facilities; a signature multi-purpose theater; a first-in-theworld vertical sculpture park; and one of the largest and most important collections of Latin American art in the world.

Integrated lighting and media wrap the building, transforming it into a beacon visible along the length of Biscayne Boulevard and beyond. The dynamic facade announces LAAM as a nexus of culture and creativity, adaptable to activity, event, exhibition, and season.

On the city side, the building activates the streetscape with a variety of retail and dining options currently lacking in the area and offers an extension of the public realm. Circulation from the street to the conference center is seamlessly integrated and expressed visually. Elevated parking is screened by a vertical garden, filtering light and offsetting emissions. Resort-caliber amenities cap the podium, with a pair of tapered residential towers emerging above, oriented to views and stepping down to embrace the surrounding urban fabric.

The building’s elegant and fluid sculptural form is a striking presence on the skyline, yet engages with and is deferential to the adjacent Freedom Tower, framing views of the historic icon, Biscayne Bay and beyond.

YEARS

2014-2016

STATUS

Proposal

SCALE

8,361 m2 / 90,000 ft2

LOCATION

Miami, Florida US

 

CLIENT

Confidential

 

PROJECT CREDITS

Arup

 

CONTEXT

LAAM was the first museum of modern and contemporary Latin American art in the United States. The terraces are an extension of the main atrium. Dubbed “sculptural gardens”, they reconnect with the city.

 

TEAM

Fernando Romero, Sergio Rebelo, Unai Artetxe, Daniela Gallo, Sunny Ruoting, Celia Julve, João Urbano, Jessica Wang, Yuri Jeong, Alex Zee, Feifei Song, Qingyi Chen, Francisco Rocha, Wen Zhu.

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