Tommy (1975) at the Miami Beach SoundScape
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| People gathering on the lawn for the movie |
On a calm Wednesday night, people start to gather on the
lawn of the Miami Beach SoundScape in front of the New World Symphony Theater.
The 1975 musical Tommy will be playing for free for anyone who wishes to see it. Many people bring lawn chairs and others only
require a blanket or a beach towel to lie on.
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| A couple walks to over to the ledge to sit |
The prime seats are right in front of the eighty foot tall
wall the movie will be projected on. While some choose to sit further back
behind a curvy concrete ledge for seating at the beginning of a raised patch of
lawn near the projector. The more timid, find space far off to the left of the
wall in the dark jungle of speaker columns and palm trees away from the
clearing. Their views are partially blocked but they don’t seem to mind.
By day the SoundScape is a nice place to take a stroll on
the narrow concrete trails amongst the thin palms that dot the park. The
organic shapes of the paths and patches of grass between them provide a pleasant
contrast to the orthogonal shapes of the façade of the New World Symphony. All
the while the paths still speak to the sculptural forms that linger inside. These
patterns although two dimensional add another dimension when walked on as small
hills push and pull the patterns giving spatial definition between spaces in
the park. Just these small changes in elevation are enough to create small
personal spaces while still creating a visual continuity with the rest of the
park.
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| The south end of the park facing the SoundScape area |
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| Notice the bright spaces are empty compared to the dim spaces |
At night these spaces melt away. All the focus is on the two
leveled outdoor theater space. The shady hills are empty and flat. The spaces
towards the front of the wall are well lit and interestingly enough the
brighter areas are the last to get filled. As people look for more secluded parts
of the lawn they find the dim sides more comforting than the bright middle even
though these are the best places to sit for the least distorted view of the
projection. It doesn’t matter what a person brings to sit down, they can lay on
their back or find a soft pillowy friend to rest their head on as the movie is
projected 10 feet above the crowd therefore limiting the possibility of someone
blocking their view. While the movie is playing curious passers-by would often
stand far off the side to catch a glimpse of the action and a few would become so
enthralled they stick around and find a comfortable palm trunk to lean on or a
secluded bench to sit.
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| View from outside the cleared area |
The SoundScape in front of the New World Symphony is a truly
dynamic area which provides the public with a rare opportunity to gather and
enjoy a free urban space. This park does this exceptionally well with entertaining
movies and events projected on to the wall of the theater and engaging the
public with a unique park that connects sculpture with nature in a tropical
urban environment.
2 comments:
There are some good observations here (especially the point about the formal relationship between the pathways and the elements inside the building atrium), but you still need to analyze the park and the experience of the wallcast. For example, consider how the combination of the light reflected off the wall and the perimeter defined by the speaker system create a volume comparable in scale to the interior spaces.
Some interesting observations. Now show how the design creates those conditions. Show in drawings how the elements create bright, open places and dark, intimate ones. Show the dimensions and relationships that make the place.
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