Miami Beach New World Center by Frank Gehry

New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy, marks a new era for classical music with the inauguration of the institution’s first purpose-built home, an extraordinary new facility in the center of Miami Beach. Designed by Frank Gehry in close collaboration with the New World Symphony’s founder and artistic director Michael Tilson Thomas, New World Center opens up exciting new possibilities in the way music is taught, presented and experienced and dramatically advances New World Symphony’s mission to provide exceptional professional training for the gifted young music school graduates who are its Fellows.

New World Center Exterior - © Claudia Uribe

• Architects: Gehry Partners, LLP
• Location: Miami Beach, Florida, USA
• Design Partner: Frank Gehry
• Project Designer: Craig Webb
• Managing Partner: Terry Bell
• Project Architect: Brad Winkeljohn
• Project Manager: Kristin Ragins
• Project Team: Curtis Christensen , Dan Sokolosky, Molly Forr, Lisa Cage , Shikha Doogar, Petar Vrcibradic, Leon Cheng, Vartan Chalikian, Armando Solano, Luciana Vidal, Rolando Mendoza
• Acoustician: Nagata Acoustics America, Inc
• Acoustical Team: Dr. Yasuhisa Toyota Motoo Komoda Kayo Kallas Daniel Beckmann Robert Mahoney, Robert F Mahoney & Associates
• Structural Engineering: Gilsanz, Murray, Steficek, LLP
• MEPFP Engineering: Cosentini & Associates
• Theater Consultant: Theatre projects Consultants
• Lighting Designer: LAM Partners, Inc.
• Sound & Projection Consultants: Acoustic Dimensions, Sonitus, LLC
• Landscape Architect: Raymond Jungles Associates
• Civil Engineer: Kimley Horn and Associates, Inc.
• Construction Manager: Hines
• Performance Hall Seating: Poltrona Frau
• Project Area: 100,641 sqf
• Project Year: 2011
• Photographs: Rui Dias-Adios, Tomas Loewy

New World Center Facade

In terms of design the building’s exterior portrays a quiet, almost tamed Frank Gehry. The rectangle shaped white building expresses Gehry’s well known bends and folds within its interior – glimpses of which are visible through the main entrance east facade 80 foot high glass curtain wall.

New World Center North Facade

Major components of New World Center’s program-focused design are:

• a soaring, 80-foot-high glass façade providing a spectacular entrance and views of activities inside
• a skylit atrium where playful, tumbling geometric forms delineate the internal spaces, and where the public may relax at an illuminated glass bar with a blue titanium canopy;
• the 756-seat performance hall, with acoustic design led by Yasuhisa Toyota of Nagata Acoustics;
• a giant, 7,000-square-foot exterior projection wall for outdoor video presentations, including wallcasts™ of live concerts;
• a rooftop terrace offering panoramic views of Miami Beach, the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay;
• a music library; and
• numerous practice and rehearsal spaces and technology studios wired with 17 miles of fiber-optic cable for high-speed Internet2 transmissions.

New World Center Center Facade Details

The New World Center joins a wave of new architecture and design in Miami. Playing host to the most important art show in the United States, Art Basel | Miami Beach, and the 2010 National AIA Convention, Miami has been focusing its efforts on developing a new vibrant city center. Just down the street from the New World Center resides 1111 Lincoln Road designed by Herzog & de Meuron, completed last year. Currently Herzog & de Meuron are also working on the expansion for the Miami Art Museum.

New World Center Atrium

Miami Beach SoundScape, the public event space designed by the Dutch landscape architecture firm West 8, is located to the east of the New World Center and to the west of the new building is Pennsylvania Avenue Garage, a new 550-car parking structure designed by Gehry Partners, LLP.

New World Center Atrium Details

New World Center Atrium Bar

“The opening of this extraordinary building is the beginning of a wonderful adventure and exploration,” said Michael Tilson Thomas. ”Not only are we marking a new era for this organization and giving our musicians an unrivalled facility in which to learn and achieve their potential, but we are also inviting everyone to experience classical music in a new kind of space—one that is designed to engage and to energize, and that will move people from around the world to think about music in new ways.”

New World Center Center Performance Hall

At the heart of New World Center is a flexible and technologically sophisticated 756-seat performance hall, featuring large acoustically reflective “sails” that surround the audience with sound and also serve as video projection surfaces.

New World Center Center Performance Hall

Directly adjacent to the 100,641-square-foot building is the new Miami Beach SoundScape, a landscaped 2.5- acre public space into which New World Symphony will extend its programming. Together, the building and the public space create a dynamic new city center and a geographical “heart” from which civic, cultural, recreational, tourist and leisurely activity will radiate.

Image © Claudia Uribe

Six days of opening festivities will showcase the new building’s remarkable capabilities. Events include the world premiere of a commissioned work for orchestra by acclaimed composer Thomas Adès; video projections within the performance hall, including a new work by filmmaker Tal Rosner and the world premiere of a series of animations developed in collaboration with the University of Southern California (alma mater of Michael Tilson Thomas and Frank Gehry) and its School of Cinematic Arts; outdoor video projections of a new work by Tal Rosner and digital artist C.E.B. Reas; an outdoor wallcastTM of a live concert; the introduction of new concertformats designed to engage and broaden audiences; an architecture symposium; live outdoor entertainment; and fireworks.

New World Center Exterior

Frank Gehry stated, “I am very proud of this building, which results from a close working relationship with my lifelong friend Michael Tilson Thomas and brings to life his dream for New World Symphony and the entire world of classical music. I hope the spirit of creative engagement that Michael and I have enjoyed will live on in the building’s spaces. They are designed to encourage young musicians, their mentors and their audiences to try new things, interact in new ways and remain open to new experiences.”

Tags: Florida, Miami Beach

Categories: Cultural Center, Frank Gehry, Performing Arts Center

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 27th, 2011 at 2:06 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.