Projects from ARC5935 - Seminar in situ: Miami Beach, a course offered by Florida International University's
School of Architecture and taught by David Rifkind at the College of Architecture + The Arts'
new Miami Beach Urban Studios on Lincoln Road.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

SoundScape Analysis, Jillian Rio

            Located off of Lincoln Road in Miami Beach is the home of a young and prestigious orchestra the New World Symphony located in the innovative New World Center. The New World Symphony distinguishes itself from other orchestras as a school for graduate musicians because it can be enjoyed live or through the experimental medium of visual projection. The concert happening inside the building is projected live on the buildings outdoor East wall. While tickets for a performance always hold a price, the 7,000-square-foot wall projection is free and open to the public. This unlimited accessibility introduces new comers to an orchestra performance whom may have never thought to experience one before.
(Figure 1: view of the New World Center’s interior from the building’s green roof)
(Figure 2: East façade during intermission of a Wallcast Concert)


Architect Frank Gehry designed The New World Center. He chose to leave the spectacle to the performance wall instead of his renowned sculptural elements, which are kept within the buildings interior (Figure 1). The front elevation of the building is split between a blank, concrete wall and a glass curtain wall. Both of which are rigid and unornamented, to generously offer a view of what’s occurring inside the building (Figure 2).
The SoundScape park that affronts the building was designed by urban design and landscape architecture firm, West 8. The park is filled with a vast area of St. Augustine grass and full size palm trees, interrupted by strategically crossing sidewalks and benches (Figure 3). During the day, the park doesn’t seem to fit into the context of Miami’s predominantly humid weather because of its explicit lack of shade. Since the park’s priority is to provide a large viewing area in front of the building’s projection screen at night, its focus is directed toward making ways for comfortable views, which immediately stray from planting luscious trees. The sidewalks not only offer numerous points of entry into the park, during a performance, they become excellent seats.
(Figure 3: view of the SoundScape park from the New World Center’s green roof. A glimpse of the park’s connection to the city and the scale of one of the audio tubes the at North end of the park)
People have the choice of sitting on the sidewalk, the concrete benches that branch from portions of the sidewalk, or the grass. The sidewalks that run parallel to the projection screen allow people to sit comfortably side by side. The sidewalks that run perpendicular to the projection screen are not used for sitting because of their small size and placement and therefore act as aisles. The directional pavement along with the tiers of benches that rise as the park progresses away from the projection screen begin to divide the park creating uniform and sectional seating very much like a theatre. The grades of people that are attracted to this event are comfortably situated according to the building by level of interest. There are the orchestra lovers inside the building, the regulars in the front with a perfect frontal view of the projection screen, and then the family’s with the baby along with the newcomers sitting outside of the audio tubes just left of the projection screen (Figure 4).

(Figure 4: View of the screen outside of the audio tubes. Less formal, no insecurity of interrupting someone elses experience.)
            It can be argued that the experience of witnessing live music, much less an orchestra, cannot be replicated by an audio/visual system. However, it does provide an alternative experience, which can be considered in some ways better. The views of the soloists and the conductor provided by the video on the projection screen are very difficult to catch during a live orchestra (Figure 5, Figure 6). Also, the feel of respectfully enjoying live music with other people around you is still held in the SoundScape Park without the commitment of allotting time and money to the strict bounds of a ticket. This experimental medium and thoughtful building and landscape design successfully draws attention from the popular pedestrian street, Lincoln Road, luring in the nightlife loiterers with ease to create larger events with each concert as the newcomers make it a point to return.
(Figure 5: View of the projection screen during a Wallcast Concert.)
(Figure 6: The technology providing the projection)

2 comments:

David said...

Your descriptions of the park and the experience are good, but I would love to see more analysis of both. For example, how do the concrete elements (paths and low walls) foster particular seating patterns?

I would also like to see you elaborate on the differences between the performances inside and the simulcasts outside. This is a great observation, and I'd like to know more.

Gray Read said...

You make some good observations. Now you must analyze how the design of the park creates those conditions. Drawings will show the placement of elements and details will show how the elements contribute to the overall ambiance