Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Get Ready for DawnTown!


It’s that time of year again, when DawnTown, the annual architectural design showcase and competition in Miami. This year, we are calling for submissions of ideas for the new waterworks building in downtown Miami's Bicentennial Park. DawnTown 2008: Waterworks is an architecture ideas competition for a new waterworks building in Downtown Miami's Bicentennial Park. The competition will conclude with an awards event in Downtown Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach, the world's largest contemporary art show.


DawnTown 2008: Waterworks has been organized by a partnership of Downtown Miami stakeholders, including the University of Miami, Florida International University, and Miami Dade College schools of architecture, the Miami Mayor's Office, and the Miami Art Museum. In addition to the presenting partners, DawnTown 2008: Waterworks sponsors include the Miami Downtown Development Authority, Akerman Senterfitt, Burt Hill, and Home Miami magazine.

The competition invites entrants to transform the existing pump station on the waterfront in Bicentennial Park into a waterworks building that expresses its function, provides information about water conservation, and brings innovative architecture to Downtown Miami. Full competition materials are available at http://www.dawntown.org/.

Because the City has plans and funds to improve the park, any entry that captures the public imagination could inspire the eventual transformation of the existing pump station into a landmark waterworks building.

The jury is led by Terry Riley, Director of the Miami Art Museum, and also includes Alex Wall, Professor of Urban Design at the University of Karlsruhe; Loretta Cockrum, CEO of the Foram Group; Cathy Leff, Director of The Wolfsonian-FIU; and Raymond Jungles, Landscape Architect.

The awards event will take place during Art Basel Miami Beach on Friday, December 5 at 9 AM at Miami-Dade College in the heart of Downtown Miami, and will also feature a special keynote speaker. Prizes are $8000, $4000, and $2000. The registration deadline is November 7, 2008, and full event details are at http://www.dawntown.org/. Select entries may also be exhibited in Downtown Miami and published in Home Miami magazine.

We look forward to seeing the brilliant ideas that can be born out of this project and we wish everyone good luck!