Flights of fancy that float

Sometimes I sit in on design debates — what should be done with that plaza?  what would best compliment that Queen Anne building? — and when the answers all seem too predictable or just not creative enough, I let my mind wander and ponder what result we’d get if we let the minds at Pixar, Apple, Disney, Industrial Light & Magic, or the set designers for the Harry Potter films play with the idea.

They are not bound by notions of what has been and always will be.  If you have a building that looks like a castle, or a wedding cake, what would they create to sit next door?

For anyone else who enjoys such flights of fancy — and who perhaps actually possesses some design chops — let me highlight for you an exciting design challenge.

Miami — the city that hosts Art Basel Miami Beach, one of the most exciting art and design escapades in the world — is hosting a design competition for a floating stage to sit in front of the newly-rescued, design wonder, open-air stadium you may have seen on the National Trust‘s and World Monument Fund’s at-risk lists.  What an exciting way to revitalize this site!

Here’s the scoop from World Monument Fund:

Click here to go to Miami's competition page

Floating Stage Design Competition: Miami Marine Stadium

Competition open to anyone anywhere in the world, including architects, landscape architects, designers, engineers, artists, and students.

Following the inclusion of Miami Marine Stadium on the 2010 Watch, WMF became involved in efforts to save this dramatic modern structure and return it to regular use as an important entertainment venue in Miami. Although originally conceived as a stadium for boat races, it became apparent by the mid-1960s that this activity was not enough to sustain it financially.

The city government purchased and refurbished an old oil barge and parked it in front of the stadium, creating a floating stage for performances. Concerts on this floating stage were a key feature of this stadium in its heyday, but this stage is now gone. To revitalize the site as a potential entertainment venue, WMF suggested a design competition to replace the missing floating stage. This idea was accepted, and a competition run by Miami-based DawnTown is now underway.

Prizes will be as follows: first prize $5000; second prize $2500; third prize $1000; fourth prize $500; fifth prize $250; There will also be 5 honorable mentions (*honorable mentions do not receive a cash prize).

Click here for info.

I’ll have to ask my Basel Miami friend to take a picture of the end result once it’s built.