Zaha Hadid’s design of a garage and public plaza in Miami Beach will not be realized after city commissioners rejected the plans for a final time on Wednesday.
Aerial of Hadid’s design
Hadid, who died unexpectedly on March 31 in Miami Beach, had been involved with the project since 2011, when she was selected to design what would replace two city-owned lots behind the Miami City Ballet and neighboring library. And while the city’s budget was $27 million, Hadid’s was about $50 million, the Miami Herald reported.
The project, in the Collins Park neighborhood of Miami Beach, has been in limbo since then, with Zaha Hadid Architects and the city trying to lower costs. At the Miami Beach commission on Wednesday, commissioners nixed new plans for a $24 million project, designed by Hadid with her local partner Berenblum Busch Architecture. The new design included a smaller plaza, the addition of ground-floor parking, a garage with less spaces, reduced retail space, and an overall stripped down design.
“Her hands were on the design until the last moment,” Gustavo Berenblum, principal of BBA, told the Miami Herald.
The final version of the design met the city’s budget, with a cost of about $24 million. But commissioners did not like the pared-down design. The plaza was smaller, the garage housed fewer parking spaces, retail space was reduced and much of the flare and panache of the original design was stripped down or removed altogether.
The commission will solicit new proposals that incorporate workforce housing, according to the Herald.
In Miami, Hadid designed One Thousand Museum, a condo tower under construction in downtown Miami. [Miami Herald] – Katherine Kallergis