herzog & de meuron's miami art museum breaks ground

miami art museum by herzog & de meuron bay view © herzog & de meuron, visualization by artefactorylab

almost a year after the miami art museum’s design development plan were unveiled, construction on the new herzog & de meuron-designed facility has now begun. located in miami’s downtown museum park, next to the future home of the miami science museum, the ground breaking ceremony was held earlier this week, at the miami art museum’s new site overlooking biscayne bay.

the new institution will feature 200,000 square feet of programmable space. 120,000 square feet of that will be interior space – more than three times the size of the museum’s current facility – and 80,000 square feet will be dedicated to exterior areas ideal for displaying works of art, conducting educational activities, and include relaxation and dining areas. the building will house an educational complex with a library, auditorium, classrooms and workshop space, as well as a café and museum store.

the new miami art museum is scheduled to open to the public in 2013, see here designboom’s further coverage of the project.

miami art museum by herzog & de meuron park view © herzog & de meuron, visualization by artefactorylab

miami art museum by herzog & de meuron park view © herzog & de meuron, visualization by artefactorylab

MAM director thom collins, vice chairwoman-elect of the miami-dade county commission audrey m. edmonson, MAM board of trustees chairman aaron podhurst, miami-dade county mayor carlos alvarez, miami-dade county commissioner sally a. heyman, miami-dade county manager george m. burgess, and herzog & de meuron senior partner christine binswanger. photo by juan cabrera

the ceremony featured remarks by podhurst, miami-dade county mayor carlos alvarez, vice chairwoman-elect of the miami-dade county commission audrey m. edmonson, miami-dade county manager george m. burgess and MAM director thom collins. miami-dade county commissioner sally a. heyman and herzog & de meuron senior partner christine binswanger were also on-hand. miami art museum will celebrate during the museum’s most important fundraising event of the year, the miami art museum ball on saturday, december 4, 2010 at the mandarin oriental, miami.