from Coast to Coast
from Coast to Coast
Competition: Museum of Immigration in Miami > Honorable Mention
in cooperation with teamwerk-architekten
from Coast to Coast, the new architectural landmark for the immigrants in Miami Beach, shall be understood as a unique horizontal monument regarding the paradisiacal and the cosmopolitan of the South Beach of Miami.
In memory of those who left family and home searching for their own American Dream, the monument shall represent the meeting from opposites, from leaving and arriving, from loneliness and multiculturalism, from fear and hope. The antagonism of circumstances andfeelings comes along with the first step in direction of the unknown.
from Coast to Coast consists of an horizontal stripe which gives form to this contradiction in real time and space. Bringing the „extremes“ together, intentional allegorised through the inversion of ocean and sand, the museum illustrates the antagonism which the immigrant is confronted with and invites the visitor to experience it.
LEAVING vs. ARRIVING
As soon as the visitor reaches the museum, he must leave the „mainland“, the busy cityscape, to get into the exhibition: descending to the level of the monument, the visitoris surrounded by all kinds of old ships and boats constrained into the narrow and seemingly infinite channel of the monument. Passing through the „Boat-Entrance-Hall“, the visitor can walk from boat to boat, where the temporary and the permanent exhibitions are organised. The boats are attached to the artificial seabed of the channel like a buoy. Between the exhibition boats, the „Boat-Cafeteria“ is located. At the end of the exhibition, the visitor is confronted with the seemingly insuperable artificial expanse of water, extending to the new shoreline. To leave the exhibition area, the visitor must now take a boat which brings him to the desired shore. At this shoreline the stranded „Boat-MUR“ is located. Depending on the allowed accessibility, the visitor can get into this boat, where social events, gatherings or other activities are possible. Additionally, this boat can be accessed from the natural shore, linking the museum to public life.
Along the boats of the exhibition area, the semi-public and private rooms are organizedAccessed through a corridor parallel to the water, the entrance of this area is restricted for service and personal. These rooms are built underneath the existing park and get direct natural light from the opening of the wall which delimits the stripe (see short section).
The auditorium is located right at the beginning of the stripe, with toilets and storage facilities underneath. The „Boat-Stage“ is attached to the end of the tribune allowing the projection of images and creating space for events, presentations or concerts.
FAREWELL vs. MEETING
At the other side of the shore, leaving the water and crossing the beach, the visitor reaches the commemorative spaces, where palms serve as scenario for elements from the 10 Latin American countries, from which the largest number of immigrants to Miami have originally come. The objects are exhibited between the palms, where a second cafeteria finds place.
This second exhibition area is planned as an accessible horizontal monument, offering a scene for chance encounters with the topic, as well as social gatherings, celebrating a new multicultural society.
At the end of the pier the visitor is confronted again with the infinite expanse of water, the ocean, taking chance to contemplate the horizon in memory of those who came from the other coast.
