Miami Performing Arts Center

In physics, the notion of critical mass indicates the point whereby accumulating mass, an object passes from one condition into another, more dynamic one. To conceive of the two components of the Dade County Performing Arts Center (opera and concert hall) each in their own individual site, would be to waste a unique historical opportunity for Miami to create a new, exciting whole that is much more than the sum of its parts. Not only would the separation itself cause many programmatic redundancies - in space mechanical plant, vertical transport, access demands - but by combining the two programs in a single building we introduce a number of important efficiencies, enormously extend its potential uses, and create a much more unique and memorable structure that makes a stronger statement about Miami’s present and future cultural potential.