Barozzi Veiga's Design for Oolite Arts Unveiled

Created in 1984 as ArtCenter/South Florida and now going by the name Oolite Arts, the arts organization's new home will be located at 75 NW 72nd Street in Miami, which they describe as "a burgeoning arts district" that is "close to many artist studios, homes, and galleries." Oolite Arts selected Barozzi Veiga, the studio of Fabrizio Barozzi and Alberto Veiga, in February 2020. The studio is working on this, their first built project in the United States, with Charles H. Benson & Associates, the local architect on the project.

Renderings for the new building show a low-slung mass that is sympathetic to its low-rise context but stands out from it through dozens of vertical projections that are intended to function as skylights, solar chimneys, wind catchers, and water tanks. The building's numerous program spaces — studios, galleries, theater, classrooms, maker space, print studio, offices — are oriented around an internal courtyard envisioned as an "unexpected oasis" and "a new kind of public space in the neighborhood." Openings in the perimeter of the rectangular building provide access to the courtyard, an effort on the part of Oolite Arts to reach out to the neighborhood and "encourage community activity."

With its smooth concrete surfaces, vegetation, outdoor spaces, accessible rooftop, and clear effort in connecting to its surroundings, Barozzi Veiga's design for Oolite Arts is reminiscent of their earlier design for the Tanzhaus Zürich. This writer, with his World-Architects colleagues, got a tour of the Tanzhaus ahead of its September 2019 opening. One of the strongest impressions was the site-specific nature of the plan, particularly the way it integrated public pathways in front of the building and vertical access through the terraced building topped by a planted roof. If the elements of Oolite Arts carry through to construction as envisioned, the building in Miami should be as successful as the one in Zurich.