After Cooper Robertson completed the master plan for Maritime Park in Downtown Miami, the firm was retained to develop a concept plan for 66 acres of city-owned land east of Biscayne Boulevard. The City wanted to make this neglected area useful and attractive again for residents and visitors. Our plan brought several cultural and recreational elements together, made strong links to other parts of the city, and created great public spaces at the water’s edge. Phase One called for the creation of a sports arena, which is now built and is the home of the Miami Heat. A new sports walk is designed to provide a tree-lined passage to a proposed new baseball stadium a few blocks inland.

Phase Two looked to provide expansion space for the Miami Art Museum and the Science Museum – each of which was working on plans for new facilities. Our concept plan for the site was used effectively by the City to gain public and private support for this new cultural district. CR was retained to lead the design of the 32-acre waterfront park now known as Museum Park Miami. The design for Museum Park is the playful integration of Miami Art Museum and the Miami Science Museum with several gardens (children’s, exhibit, and palm), a flexible passive recreational and event space, as well as several-hundred-foot-long welcome pavilion, an entry fountain and a restaurant. Providing the right balance of visitor services to the park as well as dealing with the intense sunny climate were addressed through distributing water features, kiosks, shade structures, palms and trees throughout the park.

Cooper Robertson worked diligently with the client to investigate opportunities for cost savings while still maintaining a high quality result. Due to the changing economics at the time the design team went through several major cost estimating and value engineering efforts to provide a park design that was unique yet within the constrained budget of the City. Fundraising is underway for the completion of the park.