As friend of FoS Andrew Ross just remarked, “Is that a rendering or did they just stack some post-it notes on a printout of Google Maps?”
(For those wondering, it’s a “three-dimensional rendering” supplied by Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez of plans for a new soccer stadium next the the Miami Marlins stadium. Which may or may not be a bad idea, depending on how much the various subsidies team owner David Beckham would be demanding would come to. But man, does Suarez’s office need a budget for a better graphic designer. Or at least some fresh post-it notes.)
Unfortunately, it is probably a lot more accurate than the majority of the vaportecture that is out there.
If you look at google maps of this site, it looks like a very tight squeeze. It’s right up against NW 17th Ave & NW 6th St.
Why not first take NYCFC’s route. Share Marlins stadium like NYCFC is doing at Yankees stadium, especially since Marlins stadium has a retractable roof. Soccer and baseball can coexist on the same field. I know MLS wants cozy soccer specific stadiums, but Beckham is having such a difficult time finding a site.
^ Putting soccer on a baseball field is a terrible idea. It always had been and always will be. They are too fundamentally different in terms of spectator experience to coexist in a way that does the fan experience (for either) justice. Soccer can (and does) coexist with football fields because the fields have the same basic shape and sight lines… see Seattle, New England, and Vancouver.
If Paul Allen wasn’t involved with the Sounders while also owning the Seahaws, we’d probably be getting hit up for a MLS field a lot more. Currently, we just get griping about not being able to sign a major soccer star because the field is artificial turf rather than real grass.
@TightSpace
MLS went through an era of playing soccer on 50K+ capacity fields meant for other sports. It does not lend itself to the atmosphere they want at matches. NYCFC is doing this as a temporary measure before they get their own place.
@ChefJoe
I can’t believe I never knew CenturyLink was turf. It seems so dumb. Why would an outdoor stadium not use natural grass?
@ChefJoe The artificial turf wouldn’t be such a big issue if it weren’t so run down all the time. Apparently the Sounders would like it replaced on something like a 2 or 3 year basis, while the Seahawks, the primary tenant, insist on it being 4, because they like a harder surface for football.
Everyone knows the only vaportecture worth paying attention to is the kind that depicts a fully-attended nighttime event and spotlights.
@Anonymous Supposedly it’s because the Seattle rain would mean it would require a lot of maintenance. Still seems like BS.
It does follow one rule of vaportecture, few or no cars.
I like the subliminal $ in the upper right parking structure.
First, take a look at the fourth deck(!) corner seat behind the far goal. Imagine the view from there.
Second, Seattle FieldTurf is also a product of shadowing. If you look at the structure, you’ll see the stands are mostly covered and just the field is open. So in the winter, there is almost no Sun on the field during most of the day. Add in overcast days and there aren’t enough sunlamps in the northwest to make a grass field grow.
Football is still primary, even if soccer draws large crowds.
If you look at the retractable roof stadiums with grass, all of them were designed specifically to get sunlight onto the grass field. Arizona removes the grass on one giant tray while Houston NRG Stadium has a bunch of small trays.
Andy
I particularly like the fact that they seem to be planning on taking out entire sections of seats in Marlins park. From the picture, it looks like the baseball stadium might seat 22,000 or so when they are done updating it. Still far too many seats for the Marlins, but it’s an improvement.
“Step right up Ladies an’ gennellmen, get yer like new never been sat in official Marlins ballpark seats right heeeere…”