Description
This book is a compilation of the research and work produced by the Design 10 students of the School of Architecture at Florida International University.
CROP studio proposes the adaptive reuse of the Miami International Mall building complex and adjacent Òbig boxÓ facilities. Given the increasing decay of brick and mortar shopping vs its counterpart Online shopping, and its acceleration by the effects caused by COVID-19, the future of these type of big indoor commercial spaces is uncertain.
Adaptive Reuse had a peak moment after big warehouses and factories left by the industrial revolution were vacated giving way for gentrification to take place and rapidly turn these spaces into commercial and residential use. The ÒOnline revolutionÓ is just in its beginnings and we can already start to see spatial consequences, It seems only appropriate to take advantage of all the infrastructure and embedded energy left behind by the retail industry to be repurposed for current needs.
The (typical) shopping mall configuration, as a concept, derived from the evolution and hyper simplification of ÒdowntownÓ or city centers (main thoroughfare with shops on the sides), this layout lends itself to be reversed and to become a street once again, perhaps the street of a new type of town. By the same token, the big box anchor stores located at the ends of each corridor have the capacity to accommodate any other program, from residential to public buildings.
The goal of the studio is to explore the possibilities of transforming the Miami International Mall into a self-sufficient community, an off-the-grid ÒvillageÓ with its own infrastructure where all services and needs are at walking distance. Where each building is a hybrid that houses 2 or more programs simultaneously, an urban use on one side (residences, schools, co-working spaces, farmerÕs market, gym, park, museum, entertainment, clinic, etc.) and an infrastructural use on the other (water treatment, waste management, renewable energy generator, food production, etc)
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