The Vision
This seven-story City Hall Parking Garage in Miami Beach, Florida was completed in 2009 as the final addition to the city's Civic Center Campus. It poses a stunning architectural statement while serving as a gateway to the city's historic Art Deco district. The 300,000 square foot facility includes 38,550 square feet of office space and connects to the city hall administration building via a pedestrian bridge. The garage also provides event parking for the nearby Miami Beach Convention Center and Lincoln Road Mall commercial center.
The Airolite Look...
To enhance the appearance of what could have been a mundane concrete parking structure, the architect envisioned and designed a dynamic cladding system. A striking airfoil blade louver screen wall, engineered and manufactured by Airolite, serves as a visual barrier and encapsulates the poured concrete wall surfaces. The louver screen presents continuity and relief to the expansive north, east and south facades and complements the iconic images of the nearby Art Deco district. Selected screen segments are aligned and spaced to yield continuity whereas others are juxtaposed and misaligned to offer relief and interest. The aluminum airfoil screen wall is supported by a structural steel framework that tapers across three elevations to yield depth and further relief to the expansive walls. All aluminum elements are finished with a three-coat PPG Duranar Arcadia Silver UC70123FXL finish to resist corrosion in the salt-laden coastal setting.
That Works
The custom louver screen is comprised of a combination of 6- and 8-inch deep aluminum airfoil blades with both acute, obtuse, and 90° mitered corners to accommodate the tapered confi guration of each elevation. Fully assembled, the screen is nearly 45-feet high and spans approximately 173-feet at the north elevation, 239-feet at the east elevation, and 178-feet at the south elevation. Blades and aluminum support members were produced in gross lengths to permit fi tting to fi eld conditions. The screen is designed to withstand wind forces up to 150-mph and an 82-psf in accordance with the Miami-Dade Building Code. In addition, a custom 6-inch x 2-inch extruded aluminum tube trellis 216-feet long adorns the west side of the structure and provides a shaded walkway for pedestrians passing along Meridian Avenue. On the north side of the structure, two large linear bar grilles with a 4-inch x 4-inch x 2-inch grid provide ventilation and a decorative screen for a large utility closet. Three grille sections are fi tted with hinges and door hardware to provide access to the enclosed space. Lastly, Airolite Louver Type K6746MD, a Miami-Dade Approved product, provides ventilation for two electrical vaults located at grade. Jorge Gomez, assistant city manager for the City of Miami Beach, Florida, salutes the signature statement posed by the structure. "Most people appreciate the character and architectural interest we added to what would otherwise have been a plain parking structure," he says. "The Airolite louver screen wall helps to integrate the parking garage with the office space that fronts the street so that the whole structure looks like an office building."
This seven-story City Hall Parking Garage in Miami Beach, Florida was completed in 2009 as the final addition to the city's Civic Center Campus. It poses a stunning architectural statement while serving as a gateway to the city's historic Art Deco district. The 300,000 square foot facility includes 38,550 square feet of office space and connects to the city hall administration building via a pedestrian bridge. The garage also provides event parking for the nearby Miami Beach Convention Center and Lincoln Road Mall commercial center.
The Airolite Look...
To enhance the appearance of what could have been a mundane concrete parking structure, the architect envisioned and designed a dynamic cladding system. A striking airfoil blade louver screen wall, engineered and manufactured by Airolite, serves as a visual barrier and encapsulates the poured concrete wall surfaces. The louver screen presents continuity and relief to the expansive north, east and south facades and complements the iconic images of the nearby Art Deco district. Selected screen segments are aligned and spaced to yield continuity whereas others are juxtaposed and misaligned to offer relief and interest. The aluminum airfoil screen wall is supported by a structural steel framework that tapers across three elevations to yield depth and further relief to the expansive walls. All aluminum elements are finished with a three-coat PPG Duranar Arcadia Silver UC70123FXL finish to resist corrosion in the salt-laden coastal setting.
That Works
The custom louver screen is comprised of a combination of 6- and 8-inch deep aluminum airfoil blades with both acute, obtuse, and 90° mitered corners to accommodate the tapered confi guration of each elevation. Fully assembled, the screen is nearly 45-feet high and spans approximately 173-feet at the north elevation, 239-feet at the east elevation, and 178-feet at the south elevation. Blades and aluminum support members were produced in gross lengths to permit fi tting to fi eld conditions. The screen is designed to withstand wind forces up to 150-mph and an 82-psf in accordance with the Miami-Dade Building Code. In addition, a custom 6-inch x 2-inch extruded aluminum tube trellis 216-feet long adorns the west side of the structure and provides a shaded walkway for pedestrians passing along Meridian Avenue. On the north side of the structure, two large linear bar grilles with a 4-inch x 4-inch x 2-inch grid provide ventilation and a decorative screen for a large utility closet. Three grille sections are fi tted with hinges and door hardware to provide access to the enclosed space. Lastly, Airolite Louver Type K6746MD, a Miami-Dade Approved product, provides ventilation for two electrical vaults located at grade. Jorge Gomez, assistant city manager for the City of Miami Beach, Florida, salutes the signature statement posed by the structure. "Most people appreciate the character and architectural interest we added to what would otherwise have been a plain parking structure," he says. "The Airolite louver screen wall helps to integrate the parking garage with the office space that fronts the street so that the whole structure looks like an office building."
Information
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Architects:
Perkins + Will, Coral Gables, FL
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General Contractor:
Tower OHL Group, Miami, FL