Though it served as an important public event space for almost three decades, city mismanagement made the property a money-losing proposition over the long haul. The exhibition comes at a critical time for the stadium. “Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti staged a poetry reading there. “Religious services and beauty pageants were held at the stadium,” says Rosa Lowinger, the exhibition’s curator. famously (and controversially) hugged Richard Nixon. Five years later, it was the site of the Republican youth rally where Sammy Davis Jr. In 1967, it served as backdrop to the Elvis Presley flick Clambake (watch the trailer here). In addition to boat-racing, the stadium served as a site for concerts by the likes of Fela Kuti, The Who and Jimmy Buffett. "Concrete Paradise: The Miami Marine Stadium” will provide a detailed overview of the structure’s history, its future, and its cultural impact. The Miami Marine Stadium is now the subject of an exhibition at the Coral Gables Museum in Coral Gables, Fla. The architect was paid for his work, and the City of Miami ended up with a singular Modernist icon.īoats are lowered into the basin in preparation for a race at the Miami Marine Stadium in the 1960s. Better yet, the project came in under budget. “It came to the point where I said that if we didn’t meet the budget, we’d design it for free.” The city accepted the deal and the Miami Marine Stadium was built as Candela designed it-“the finest speedboat-racing facilities in the world,” as The New York Times described it in 1965. “There was a moment where they almost wanted to stop it,” recalls Candela. And it would be an engineering marvel: The canopy would become the world’s longest span of cantilevered concrete.īut, the city, concerned about money, was not enthralled by the plan. The viewing stands would be sheltered by a soaring concrete canopy that resembled a crinkled piece of origami. Part of the grandstand would rest on land part of it would float over the waters of a broad U-shaped basin dredged to accommodate boat races. “It would be a sculptural piece.” What he came up with was a singular athletic arena. “I thought we could create an outstanding piece of architecture,” he says. They wanted a 6,600-seat grandstand and they wanted it to cost less than $1 million (roughly $7.7 million today).Ĭandela, then a 27-year-old architect at the Miami firm of Pancoast, Ferendino, Skeels and Burnham, had other ideas. Miami’s Department of Public Works-an entity known for erecting practical infrastructure like highway overpasses-wasn’t interested in producing a great work of architecture. When architect Hilario Candela was tasked with designing a boat racing stadium on a small key just off the coast of Miami in 1962, there was one overarching requirement from the city: make it cheap. The boat-racing basin is as big as the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Daniel Garcia/Little Gables Group The wide view of the stadium as it stands over the water today.
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