Resilience - University of Miami School of Architecture

Virginia Key currently contains the following primary uses:
recreaon
• Miami Seaquarium
• Miami Marine Stadium
• Virginia Key Beach Park
• Hobie Beach
• Rickenbacker Marina
• Rusty Pelican, Jimbo’s and Bayside Hut restaurants
civic
• Miami Dade County Virginia Key Wastewater Treatment
Plant
• Mast Academy High School
• Municipal land-fill site (closed)
is a recognion of the stadium’s cultural value beyond the Miami community
(figure 3). The arficial lagoon to the north of the stadium separates the recreaonal
zone along the causeway from the natural and infrastructure uses to
the north.
Situated at the south end of Virginia Key, the Rosensel School is part of a
somewhat accidental complex of marine related research acvity. Located
across the Rickenbacker Causeway are regional research centers for the Na-
onal Oceanic and Atmospheric Associaon, and the Naonal Marine Fishery
Service. Also located on the east side of the causeway is the Mast Academy,
a Miami-Dade magnet high school for marine science and technology.
Miami Seaquarium is immediately adjacent to RSMAS on the north. Opened
in 1955, the facility has regional appeal, but has not kept up with other public
aquaria such as Monterrey which have invested in improved facilies designed
to emphasize educaon and marine research.
3. Marine Stadium, Friends of Miami Marine Stadium
research
• US Naonal Oceanic and Atmospheric Associaon Atlanc
Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (NOAA)
• Naonal Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Fisheries Science
Center (NMFS)
• University of Miami Rosensel School of Marine and Atmospheric
Sciences (RSMAS) (figure 2)
Most of the island is part of the City of Miami, while the southeast corner
(including the RSMAS site) is part of unincorporated Miami-Dade County. The
north end of the island is occupied by the wastewater treatment plant and
the remainder of a municipal land-fill. The land-fill has now been capped,
and is now primarily covered with scrub forest. The acve wastewater treatment
plant is screened by a forested strip facing Virginia Key Beach Park. The
historic park served African Americans from 1945 unl desegregaon of the
other municipal beaches. The park was closed in 1982 and re-opened in 2008.
The current design emphasizes the park’s history while allowing for contemporary
recreaonal use stressing low-impact beach acvies and respect for the
site’s ecology. To the west of the treatment plant is the island’s largest remaining
patch of mangrove forest.
The eastern p of the island contains the most prominent recreaonal facili-
es. Hobie Beach faces south, and is a popular spot for windsurfing, small
catamarans etc. On the north side of the causeway is the Rickenbacker Marina
and Rusty Pelican Restaurant, in addion to the island’s most architecturally
significant structure, the Miami Marine Stadium. Completed in 1964, the
sculptural concrete structure was designed by a team led by Cuban born architect
Hilario Candela. Its lisng on the World Monuments Fund 2010 watch list
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