Envelope
New Enclosure for Water Treatment Facility
Program………………Commercial
Location………………Downtown Miami
Area…………………….12500 sf
Status………………….Competition Entry
Located at the entrance of Museum Park, the remodeling of this existing water treatment facility was part of a master plan to improve the entrance of a recently-developed cultural destination in Miami: The Perez Art Museum and the Frost Science Museum Complex. The design proposes the installation of a new shell surrounding the facility on all four sides with stacked glass boxes. The boxes, intended to house recycled glass gravel, would reflect the surroundings with different color intensities. From a distance, the apparently random arrangement of colors would create oversized pixelated images that would change throughout the course of the day.
A structural steel framework provides access to the glass boxes through corridors that culminate in a cable lattice canopy for landscape growth as it serves as a shading device for the public spaces below. The water facility transformation from a mechanical facility to a complementary cultural and environmental destination reinforces the ideals of the museum complex.
