SoundScape Park

About

Formerly a large, concrete parking lot, Miami’s SoundScape Park serves diverse functions. As part of the New World Symphony’s Miami Beach Campus, the site offers simulcasts of their live concerts as well as other community events and art installations. The design creates an inviting gathering space for residents and visitors alike, offering an urban oasis and the illusion of a park much larger than its 2.5-acre envelope.

The final piece of Florida’s Miami Beach City Center Redevelopment Plan, SoundScape Park is revitalizing and fostering development in the once-blighted area surrounding the Miami Beach Convention Center and Lincoln Road.

Categories Place Recreation Landscape Performance Series

Project Details

Description

SoundScape Park has become a beloved gathering place and world-class cultural destination in the cultural and civic heart of Miami Beach. The space was transformed from a parking lot into a multi-use park that hosts a busy schedule of social events, including world-class audio-visual experiences, concerts, and film screenings. It also acts as a gathering place for residents and visitors who can immerse themselves in the park’s creative plantings and inviting topography.

One of the design challenges was the small size — just 2.5 acres — combined with its urban locale and ambitious programming plans. The edges of the park were planted with palms to create a visual and auditory buffer. The soft undulations in topography are echoed by concrete seating walls and meandering white concrete pathways that also serve to connect the park to surrounding neighborhoods. The 355 newly planted trees provide shade, providing welcome relief from South Florida's intense sun and heat. Fifteen custom-fabricated pergolas welcome visitors to the site and create dappled shade.

Project Goals

Design an inviting gathering space in a dense urban context.
Link retail and tourist corridors and the district’s main attractions while complementing the adjacent urban and historic neighborhoods.
Accommodate ambitious programming goals in a compact area.
Regenerate commercial and pedestrian activity on nearby derelict blocks.
Alleviate traffic congestion.

Adapted from the original LAF LPS case study.

Social Benefits

Attracts approximately 870 users on a typical May weekday and 1,000 people over an 8-hour period on a typical May weekend day.
Positively influences satisfaction with quality of life in Miami Beach according to 82% of 84 survey respondents.
Provides stress relief according to 60% of 84 survey respondents.
Increases user exposure to music performances or other cultural events according to 45% of 84 survey respondents by hosting over 50 events annually.

Reprinted from the original LAF LPS case study.

Contact west8@west8.com Design Firm – West 8 Urban Design and Landscape Architecture Design Project – Miami Beach Soundscape SoundScape Park

Project Team

Client: City of Miami Beach
Landscape Architect: West 8 Urban Design and Landscape Architecture
Civil Engineer: Coastal Systems International
Development Manager: Hines
Projection & Audio Design: Sonitus Consulting
Projection Design: Prosound and Video
Structural Engineering: Douglas Wood Associates
MEP Engineering: Cosentini Associates
Local Landscape Architect: Rosenberg Gardner Design
Local Architect: Leo A Daly
Landscape Maintenance: ValleyCrest Landscape Development

Total Cost

Budget: $13.1 million

Amenities & Services

Accessible; municipal parking garage; restrooms trailer open during special events

Awards

Honor Award, American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) New York Chapter, 2015
Excellence in Structural Engineering Award, National Council of Structural Engineers Associations, 2012
Award of Excellence, American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Florida Chapter, 2011
Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design (as part of the Miami Beach City Center Redevelopment Project), AIA, 2012

Aerial view shows the park surrounded by a cityscape with the ocean in the background.

A tall mechanical structure in the center that houses the projector and outdoor sound system is flanked by palm trees, with a sidewalk in the foreground.

A crowd sits on a grassy area facing toward a large screen on the side of a building. A concert is projected onto the screen.

Several large, vase-shaped trellises hold plants with magenta flowers. People sit on a grassy area under a tree.

Children and adults stand, walk, and play on wide paths with palm trees in the background.

Nighttime aerial view of the illuminated park with the city skyline in the background.

Person walking on a wide sidewalk flanked by pergolas covered with flowering vines.

A crowd sits on a grassy area at dusk with the projector lights showing in the background. Many people are sitting on blankets.

Nighttime aerial view shows the illuminated park with the projector on, a crowd of people sitting on the lawn, and the city skyline in the background.

People sit on a grassy area with palm trees planted throughout. There’s a large building in the background.

Concrete paths crisscross an open area of mown grass with palm trees planted throughout the area.

Arching trellises planted with vines that cast shade on the concrete walkway.

Wide sidewalk features a bus stop with palm trees on the left and a road on the right.

A bicycle rack on a wide, concrete pathway holds several bicycles. In the background are palm trees and a large building.

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People walk along a gravel path with benches and a waterway in the background.

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People walking and riding bicycles on a path with tall grass on either side of the path and mountains in the background.

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Encompassing 60 acres, Story Mill includes 40 acres of nature preserve with restored wetlands, aspen groves, open meadows, and the East Gallatin River, and 20 acres offering educational and recreational opportunities to engage community members and accommodate gatherings.

Nighttime aerial view shows the illuminated park with a crowd of people sitting on the lawn and the city skyline in the background.

Place

SoundScape Park

The space was transformed from a parking lot into a multi-use park that hosts a busy schedule of social events, including world-class audio-visual experiences, concerts, and film screenings.