See the Final Booklets 2015

_{“City on Boat” by Jing Cui, Xiaoxiao Ma, Han Liu, and Songyue Zhang, incorporated the Miami's water context into the high-rise building design, providing the docks at higher levels as the sea level rises.}

The popular image of Miami consists of sun-soaked beaches, swaying palms, retirees, and – of course – the Day-Glo colors and drug-fueled excesses of Miami Vice. In the backdrop, tall condominium towers defined the skyline in the popular imagination. Today, the city contains urban complexities and cultural amenities that defy the old stereotypes. There are more towers than ever – but the new developments reflect the dynamism of a 21st Century city that seems to be growing into its relatively young skin.

A conversation with virtually any developer or architect will inevitably contain the phrase “Miami is a grown-up city now” and will be accompanied with an impressive list of cultural and infrastructural improvements that have taken place over the past few decades. These include the immensely popular Art Basel fine-arts show, the emergence of the bohemian Wynwood and Design District neighborhoods, the new Perez Art Museum Miami, the New World Symphony, a vehicular tunnel under the Port of Miami that will accommodate the largest container ships, and shockingly – in a state that refused federal funding for high-speed rail – a privately developed high-speed rail project.

Brickell City Centre is a $1.05 billion mixed-use development. Strategically located in the center of the Brickell financial district, this is the single largest project currently underway in downtown Miami. Brickell City Centre is anticipated to bring a whole new level of urban living and sophistication to the area. The students investigated alternatives to the overall Brickell City Centre Development and proposed programmatic and design solutions for the Phase II Tower and its integration into the existing Phase I buildings.