Stadium seating. Courtesy of Spillis Candela DMJM.

CASE STUDIES
Miami’s
Marine Stadium
Jean-François Lejeune

The Marine Stadium (240 acres of land and water) was Key. The report determined that there was no other facility of
the culmination of a series of proposals for the development of the type in the world, and that the local cultural and climatic
the publicly owned barrier island of Virginia Key, situated north conditions would make the stadium an economic and public
of Key Biscayne on the northeastern edge of the Rickenbacker success. The tradition of aquatic games and performances in
Causeway. The mangrove-covered site faced the bay and pro- Miami (boat racing and water skiing in particular) went back
vided a spectacular view of the downtown Miami skyline, yet to the early years of the century when Miami Beach devel-
during and immediately following World War II, it was curiously oper Carl Fisher constructed grandstands along Biscayne Bay
designated as the location for one of Miami’s most ambitious and solicited the participation of Gar Wood, a famous speedboat
infrastructure schemes : a combined oceanfront seaport and racer of the 1920s. The Virginia Key site was well protected from
airport complex. Opposed by both public and private interests, the winds and provided calm and safe waters for high-speed
the idea failed. Instead, the site became a major segment of a motorized boats as well as for a relocated Orange Bowl Regatta.
planned the postwar chain of parks, entertainment venues and The project, by Burke Engineers, continued the Mi-
public infrastructure that Dade County Parks Commissioner ami tradition of shaping geometric land out of the irregularly
Charles Crandon envisioned and partially built between the formed natural and artificial island (other examples of this
Rickenbacker Causeway and on Key Biscayne. The island’s sys- tradition included construction of the Venetian Islands, Flagler
tem of public infrastructure and beaches was also an integral Memorial Island and the Bay Harbor Islands). The amorphous
part the planned (but never realized) Ocean Highway that was edges of the western shores of Virginia Key were dramatically
to connect Virginia Key, Key Biscayne, Key Largo and possibly reconfigured in the shape of a 5,300-foot-long water stadium,
Miami Beach. Among the realized projects were the completion oriented northwest-southeast. Along its northeastern shore-
of a sewage treatment plant on the island’s easternmost por- line, the engineers projected a pier-like structure, whereas
tion (DATE TK), Miami’s first designated park for blacks (1945) the widened southern bank alongside the causeway included a
and the development of both the laboratories for the University grandstand, a floating stage for concerts, a series of boat slips,
of Miami School of Marine Sciences (DATE TK) and the Miami places for restaurants, beaches and a large 4200-car parking
Seaquarium (1955). area separating the stadium proper from the Rickenbacker
Intent on making Miami “the boat racing capital of the Causeway.1 The stadium’s iconic form had an illustrious prec-
world” in 1962 the City Commission hired the Chicago firm
Ralph Burke Engineers & Architects to study the feasibility (1) Ralph H. Burke, Feasibility Study and Master Plan for a Marine Stadium on

and to develop a master plan for a marine stadium on Virginia Virginia Key, Miami (Chicago : Burke Engineers & Architects, 1962).

162 163
 Beginning in the 1930s in Europe and Latin America, made of light concrete shells that opened up on the tropical
a series of sport facilities had been built in which the plastic skies. 2
aesthetic qualities of poured-in-place concrete were exploited The 6,566-seat grandstand of the Commodore Munroe
for visual effect. Pier Luigi Nervi’s Florence Stadium (1929-32) Stadium, named for Coconut Grove pioneer and boating enthu-
and Palazzo dello Sport (1958-59) in Rome pioneered plastic siast Ralph Munroe, was completed in 1964. Poured entirely
concrete shell construction. In Nervi’s footsteps, Carlos Raúl in concrete, it consisted of a dramatically cantilevered folded
Villanueva (University Stadium in Caracas, 1950-52), Oscar plate roof supported by eight big slanted columns anchored in
Niemeyer and especially Felix Candela, the Spanish-born ar- the ground through the grandstand. A huge horizontal beam
chitect who immigrated to Mexico, made concrete a genuine tied them all together. A cut in the seating arrangement al-
expression of modern Latin American architecture, whose sen- lowed spectators to appreciate the full height of the posts,
suality and plasticity contrasted with the rationalist canons of which were pushed as far back as possible to permit unob-
the international style. Hilario Candela was not only distantly structed views over the watercourse. From the top of the col-
related to Felix Candela, but he had seen him at work while Hi- umns, each section of the six-inch-thin roof – thicker than Felix
lario was employed by the Cuban firm SACMAG (Saenz-Cancio- Candela’s works in Mexico but a feat of craftsmanship in Miami
Martin-Alvarez-Gutierrez, architects) in 1958-59. At that time, – developed as four folds. Seen from the causeway, the folds
the firm was working with Felix Candela on the Bacardí ware- suggested “the romance of the water” and the structure ex-
house in Mexico, designed as a series of articulated concrete
shells with large glass inserts. Hilario had also met Nervi when (2) Much of the information in this article is from an interview the author con-

he was still in school and he had worked with Max Borges, also ducted with Hilario Candela, on January 17, 2005. On the Tropicana, see Eduar-

a graduate of Georgia Tech and the architect of the Tropicana do Luis Rodriguez, Havana Guide : Modern Architecture 1925-1965 (New York :

Nightclub (1951) in Havana, an elegant and organic structure Princeton Architectural Press, 2000).

“Proposed Marine Stadium for the City of Miami, Florida.” Perspective rendering. Feasibility Study and Master Plan for a Marine Stadium on Virginia Key at Proposed plan of Miami Marine Stadium from “Proposed Marine Stadium for the City of Miami, Florida.” Feasibility Study and Master Plan for a Marine Stadium

Miami, Florida. Chicago and Park Ridge, Illinois : Ralph H. Burke, Inc. 1962. on Virginia Key at Miami, Florida. Chicago and Park Ridge, Illinois : Ralph H. Burke, Inc. 1962.

edent : the antique Circus Maximus in Rome, whose fame in the Hilario Candela, a young Cuban architect educated at Georgia
twentieth century had been revived by the two American ver- Tech, were put in charge of the project. Like Burke Engineers
sions of Ben Hur. A small island, placed in relation with the end and Architects in their original report, Candela and Ferendino
of the pier and on the central axis of the stadium, functioned as immediately imagined the stadium as a image-making water-
a marker for boat races : a short loop inside the stadium was front landmark that would also offer one of the most spectac-
1.7 mile long, a longer one reaching further out in the bay was ular views over the developing downtown. One of their chal-
three miles. lenges was the shortsighted vision of the city administration,
The facility would offer boat racing, water-skiing and which pushed for a functional steel-frame structure. Candela
“aqua spectaculars,” as well as boat shows and demonstra- and Ferendino eventually succeeded – with the collaboration
tions of the type usually held at Dinner Key in Coconut Grove. of Norman Dignum Associates Engineers of Miami – in dem-
Concerts and other cultural events were considered, but were onstrating the incipient prowess of poured-in-place concrete
not deemed critical in economic and management terms in construction. Miami architects Weed – Russell – Johnson As-
light of the large floating amphitheater planned (but never re- sociates with New York structural engineers Amman and Whit-
alized) for Interama in North Miami at the same time. ney had pioneered the technique in their work on the National
As the stadium was being built, the project for a seven- Airlines Nose Hangar (DATE TK) at Miami International Airport,
thousand-seat grandstand was commissioned to Pancoast, Fe- but the bold and exquisitely detailed structure was far from the
rendino, Grafton, Skeels and Burnham. Albert Ferendino and public eye.

164 165
pressed the movement of waves gently bathing the stadium’s In spite of some technical problems – early cracks ap- the time of its inauguration in 1964. The press concentrated on
shoreline. The low points of the waves were anchored to a se-
3
peared in the concrete roof, which Lester Grafton attributed to budgetary and management issues that plagued the building
ries of diagonal concrete members attached to the bottom of “skimping” of the budget by the city and unrealistic construction since its inception. Major pop concerts, which started on July
the posts in a sculptural demonstration of concrete malleabi- timelines – the construction was a success. Contractors were
4
4, 1965 — 6,500 attendees in the stands and about five hundred
lity. Together, the straight and inverted triangles of the struc- willing to experiment and with the help of the architect, who in boats — eventually won the skeptics over. The stadium was
ture created an elegant and mineral façade that alluded to the built large-scale plaster models of the complex concrete artic- for more than two decades a spectacular setting for speedboat
complex geometry of marine life. On the water side, the waving ulations, they succeeded in matching the best Latin American championship races and unforgettable evening concerts.5
roof thinned out gradually and morphed into a single structural examples. Yet, the quality of the building was not recognized at Modern beach hotel. Rendering by Arthur Radebaugh. From TK.

line at the edge of the water. In combination with the straight (5) Hurricane Andrew damaged the stadium in 1992. Engineering reports have

line of the theater seating, the roofline completed a bold fig- (4) Stadium’s Budget Forced Skimping,” Miami Herald, 11 April 1964. since proven that the structure was sound but needed repairs, yet it has remai- Boat racing. Courtesy of Spillis Candela DMJM

ure, which strongly suggested the open claw of a crustacean

(common to the bay). From the spectators’ side, the structure
formed a large-scale horizontal visor shading the view of the
changing city skyline above the line of mangroves surrounding
the water circus.
Pedestrian access for the almost seven thousand spec-
tators was deceivingly transparent and efficient. Two ramps
led to the second floor balcony, which housed major conces-
sions and connected to the distribution landing and its eight
staircases on the waterside. The technical booth, suspended
from the roof, was accessible via a catwalk. To facilitate traffic
movement around the grandstand and to improve visibility to
and from the water during a concert staged from the floating
stage, the architects moved the structure over and used piers
to support the bottom third of the seating into the water. As a
result, the whole grandstand appeared to glide over the water ;
it floated and was ready to leave shore like a traveling barge.

(3) Hilario Candela, interview with author, January 17, 2005.

Proposed marine stadium. Perspective rendering. Courtesy of Spillis Candela