Wynwood Landing
New Civic Node for Transit-Oriented Future
2020 ULI Hines Student Competition
January 2020
Location: Miami
Design: Group Work with Xudong Zhu, Hua Zheng
Urban Planning & Real Estate: Weiyi Cao, Patrick Braga
Instructor: Alex Krieger, Stephen Gray
Wynwood Landing will establish a new civic node and precedent for Miami’s transit-oriented future. The proposal better connects the socioeconomically divided neighborhoods of Edgewater, Overtown, and Wynwood Norte across the tracks. A neighborhood center in the form of a generous public space, Manatee Place, extends above the tracks, establishing the rail station as an attractor and destination rather than a divider. Manatee Place reaches out with four linear extensions, supporting neighborhood accessibility and social interaction.
Development at this new commuter rail and local activity node will promote equitable development by reserving 30% of housing units as affordable. We will include community organizations to meet housing needs of veterans, seniors, LGBT seniors, homeless youth, and others who have been unfairly denied housing. To avoid artist displacement, existing businesses and studios will be considered from the start, with new studio and live-work spaces reserved for them.
Although the site faces minimal stormwater and sea level rise risk, the adjacent lots face a tenuous future. We therefore propose an open space network of several resilient, sponge-like parks which absorb rainwater during storms but otherwise act as unstructured play spaces. Brownfield parcels north of NE 29th St will be part of the network. These crucial landscape features extend the surrounding neighborhoods and thereby offer surrounding residents’ equitable access to Manatee Place.
Articulating new streets and open spaces, Wynwood Landing will become a seamless, accessible, and integrated extension of Miami's urban fabric. Manatee Place will link the station to surrounding blocks and articulate a space that welcomes Miamians from all walks of life. Residents near the station will find regional access to employment alongside recreational and cultural amenities. Our plan will result in creating a canonical environment – a land-to-sea transect for future rail-oriented growth in South Florida.
