Professors Roberto Rovira and Nick Gelpi win first place in Wynwood competition


Courtesy of Wynwood Greenhouse Park.

Wynwood Greenhouse Park.

FIU Landscape Architecture + Environmental and Urban Design Chair Roberto Rovira, Assistant Professor of Architecture Nick Gelpi and Jim Drain (artist and 2005 Bâloise Art Prize recipient) won first place in the DawnTown Wynwood Gateway Park competition, with their design of “Wynwood Greenhouse Park.” Their design was selected from 238 submissions from 20 countries. Their interdisciplinary team – Gelpi the architect, Rovira the landscape architect, and Drain the public artist – was the only one based in Miami.

Participants were asked to reimagine 2825 NW 2nd Avenue in Miami as urban park and garden. The 14,000-square-foot space needed to be dynamic and offer the local community, visitors and tourists a place to come together and enjoy the neighborhood in a public environment.

Rovira, Gelpi and Drain describe their winning design as ” the  intersection  of  art,  architecture,  and landscape  in  a  local  community with a global  presence.” It will be built and implemented as part of Phase II of the commercial development that serves as the entryway to the community of  Wynwood.

“We are truly honored to be selected from among such a prestigious group of competitors,” Gelpi says. “We look forward to working with the city of Miami and Metro 1 to realize an ambitious vision that acknowledges the vibrancy of the Wynwood neighborhood and that emphasizes the unique natural wonders of South Florida.

“We hope that our park will be a place where people come together with nature and art in an urban environment, where everyone can feel at home and where people and nature thrive together.”

park1

Wynwood Greenhouse Park.

 

On his website, Gelpi – who led the interdisciplinary team – describes the design as featuring “an undulating roof structure with two roof peaks on the 28th Street elevations referencing the two single family homes that previously existed on the site. As the two roofs merge and interact pitching and warping, they blend into a playful hovering roofscape, relying on the familiar domestic roof shapes peaks, dormers and eaves. This lightweight framework additionally served as a system for collaborative interaction, as the 3 disciplines of art, architecture, and landscape, filled in to the empty frames various components which make up the mosaic of park space.”

The competition was conceived by neighborhood visionary and Metro 1 President and CEO, Tony Cho, in partnership with DawnTown, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting architecture in Miami, and AIA Miami, the local chapter of The American Institute of Architects.

Other standout designs include second-place winner “Graffito Green” by Meyer + Silberberg – Land Architects from Berkeley, California, and third-place winner “Wynwood Commons” by Solid Objectives – Idenburg Liu  /  SO-IL from Brooklyn, New York.

The winners of the competition were selected by an esteemed panel of expert judges that included:

Enrique Norten – Founding Principal, TEN Arquitectos
Terence Riley – Principal, Keenan/Riley and Former Director of the Miami Art Museum and the Museum of Modern Art
Raymond Jungles, ASLA – FASLA, PLA, Founding Principal of Raymond Jungles, Inc.
Allan Shulman FAIA, Principal, Shulman + Associates
James Russell, FAIA, architecture critic and journalist
Andrew Frey – Development Manager, Codina Group and Founder of DawnTown
Tony Cho – CEO and Founder, Metro 1
Moderator: Joachim Perez, Executive Director

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– carta.fiu.edu