Located at 500 17th St. in Florida, the 100,641 square feet New World Center is Frank Gehry’s first project in Florida. It includes 24 coaching and practice rooms, four chamber ensemble rooms, three percussion studios, three guest-artist suites, a conference room that doubles as a performance space and a separate rehearsal room. Most of these areas are wired for high-speed Internet connections, allowing the musicians to sit for live video instruction by teachers in other cities.
The building is conceived as two large, connected spaces: the soaring atrium, which includes a bar topped by a blue-titanium canopy, and the concert hall. Connecting the two at ground level are a pair of low-ceiling corridors that lead to the hall next to the stage.
Designed with characteristic Gehry touch, the sky-lit entrance atrium is filled with a jumble of the architect’s familiar sculptural forms. Resonant with white colour, the structure features a smooth milky frame punctuated by an 80 ft high wall of glass that allows natural light to penetrate. The interior features an expansive entrance hall with a grand staircase winding its way between white abstract rehearsal spaces. These pure white shapes are fused to a 756-seat concert hall. The interior of the hall is lined almost entirely in curving, white-plaster forms.
The white walls lend a straightforward look to the New World Center and doubles as screens showcasing a variety of video images, both inside the auditorium and on the front of the concert hall. The walls face a new park designed by the Dutch landscape architecture firm West 8.
Gehry has incorporated an interactive setting in the design of the symphony hall, positioning the seating in a ‘vineyard pattern’. This allows no seat to be at a distance of more than 13 rows from the stage. Huge curvilinear sails are featured on the ceiling that enhances the concert experience with animated projections. This theme of projection continues on the external facade.
The facility also features a 550-space garage, designed by Gehry Partners. It joins the concert hall and the park as part of a three-stage Miami Beach redevelopment project.
Gehry Partners collaborated on this project with acoustics experts Nagata Acoustics America, Inc and lighting designers LAM Partners, Inc.
About $15 million came from the city of Miami Beach for the New World Center’s design and construction, with $30 million from Miami-Dade County and the balance generated from private donations.
