FIVE QUESTIONS The future of Miami, city living
FIVE QUESTIONS
The future of Miami, city living
Nicol�s Quintana, born in Cuba, is a scholar and teacher in architecture and urbanism at Florida International University.
Q. What do you think of the direction in which Miami architecture is going?
A. Miami is a city wanting to be, but now just an agglomeration of tacky-tacky Mediterranean houses. It is horizontal, stretched-out suburban and often ''gated.'' It dramatically needs affordable housing. Public transportation has to be heavily subsidized because of the low densities. It lacks adequate public open spaces, green or not. Havana, when it used to be Havana, occupied 25 percent of the area that Miami occupies with the same amount of population, and Havana was a totally livable city.
We have to get used to change. The urban scale has to change into a vertical, dense, mixed-use approach. We have to occupy less horizontal land space and accommodate more people to achieve higher densities -- without losing the urban quality of life. Anything else is non-sustainable, a form of urban suicide.
Q. What about the preservation of the Freedom Tower?
A. The Freedom Tower is a historic urban icon, no doubt. Its size and vertical scale, though, belong to the past and should be preserved. Yet its scale should not be imposed on its surroundings. That would freeze the area in time. The tower can stand on its own surrounded by modern examples of growth. Compare the radically different scales of Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral, another urban icon located across the street. Yet both enrich each other. But there is a big ``if.''
Q. What's that ``if''?
A. The original design of the building that is to go behind the Freedom Tower was too undulating, like a flag, and a flag is not a building. It created a very busy facade that tended to diminish the tower, which should be the only symbolic element in that context. The real issue is building design. If the building were neutral, well-proportioned and exquisitely designed, it would constitute a proper backdrop, showing a beautiful contrast between old and new. That's very important, because people should be aware of their history. Face it, a new modern Miami is starting to emerge. Nothing should try to or will stop it.
Q. What's your Havana project?
A. The project is titled, ''Havana and its Landscapes.'' Its objective is to create a sustainable vision of Havana into the future by suggesting guidelines that will help preserve historic aspects and protect it as it travels to restoration, growth and a democratic, market-oriented way of life. Havana should preserve its identity and keep its uniqueness as an urban symphony. It should not become another Kendall, Hialeah or Miami Beach. The project is funded by a joint grant from top developers Sergio Pino and Anthony Seijas. I am its director, working with FIU's School of Architecture Dean Juan A. Bueno and retired professor Felipe Pr�stamo. The 18-month project will result in a book to be published by a leading architectural press.
Q. Can such planning really save a city's character?
A. We have to create a flexible approach, an urban vision that preserves the identity of the city amid the turmoil of change it will have to endure. Preserve the past and its traditions, construct a creative present and visualize, as clearly as possible, the future. Otherwise what happens is that big investors come in and, at the end, everything will look like Chicago, or New York . . . their identity lost.
Editorial Board member Susana Barciela prepared this report.
________________________________
� 2005 Herald.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miami.com
The future of Miami, city living
Nicol�s Quintana, born in Cuba, is a scholar and teacher in architecture and urbanism at Florida International University.
Q. What do you think of the direction in which Miami architecture is going?
A. Miami is a city wanting to be, but now just an agglomeration of tacky-tacky Mediterranean houses. It is horizontal, stretched-out suburban and often ''gated.'' It dramatically needs affordable housing. Public transportation has to be heavily subsidized because of the low densities. It lacks adequate public open spaces, green or not. Havana, when it used to be Havana, occupied 25 percent of the area that Miami occupies with the same amount of population, and Havana was a totally livable city.
We have to get used to change. The urban scale has to change into a vertical, dense, mixed-use approach. We have to occupy less horizontal land space and accommodate more people to achieve higher densities -- without losing the urban quality of life. Anything else is non-sustainable, a form of urban suicide.
Q. What about the preservation of the Freedom Tower?
A. The Freedom Tower is a historic urban icon, no doubt. Its size and vertical scale, though, belong to the past and should be preserved. Yet its scale should not be imposed on its surroundings. That would freeze the area in time. The tower can stand on its own surrounded by modern examples of growth. Compare the radically different scales of Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral, another urban icon located across the street. Yet both enrich each other. But there is a big ``if.''
Q. What's that ``if''?
A. The original design of the building that is to go behind the Freedom Tower was too undulating, like a flag, and a flag is not a building. It created a very busy facade that tended to diminish the tower, which should be the only symbolic element in that context. The real issue is building design. If the building were neutral, well-proportioned and exquisitely designed, it would constitute a proper backdrop, showing a beautiful contrast between old and new. That's very important, because people should be aware of their history. Face it, a new modern Miami is starting to emerge. Nothing should try to or will stop it.
Q. What's your Havana project?
A. The project is titled, ''Havana and its Landscapes.'' Its objective is to create a sustainable vision of Havana into the future by suggesting guidelines that will help preserve historic aspects and protect it as it travels to restoration, growth and a democratic, market-oriented way of life. Havana should preserve its identity and keep its uniqueness as an urban symphony. It should not become another Kendall, Hialeah or Miami Beach. The project is funded by a joint grant from top developers Sergio Pino and Anthony Seijas. I am its director, working with FIU's School of Architecture Dean Juan A. Bueno and retired professor Felipe Pr�stamo. The 18-month project will result in a book to be published by a leading architectural press.
Q. Can such planning really save a city's character?
A. We have to create a flexible approach, an urban vision that preserves the identity of the city amid the turmoil of change it will have to endure. Preserve the past and its traditions, construct a creative present and visualize, as clearly as possible, the future. Otherwise what happens is that big investors come in and, at the end, everything will look like Chicago, or New York . . . their identity lost.
Editorial Board member Susana Barciela prepared this report.
________________________________
� 2005 Herald.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miami.com
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