Two years after beating out more than 100 different international firms and being named to its commission, Barcelona’s Estudio Barozzi Veiga has finally unveiled renderings of its new “signature building” for the nonprofit Oolite Arts in Miami. 

The museum and educational center will offer space for artists and the community to enhance each other through an exchange created by the addition of the new village-like cultural hub, acting as an anchor to the increasingly trendy Little River Art District.

The updated design appears to show an open-ended scheme with plenty of trees and other greenery dotting an oasis-like internal courtyard. Interior space is organized into repeated vertical elements with an influx of natural light providing framing for its office and exhibition spaces, two classrooms, a theater, and the 21 free studios promised as part of Oolite’s storied artist-in-residency program.  

This layout leads to the establishment of a dichotomy between the protagonist artists and their public, the community at large. It also includes a series of environmentally-friendly measures like solar chimneys, skylights, water tanks, and windcatchers that help regulate the climate while consuming less energy overall.

“One of the things that most architects say about Miami is that it’s very young with regards to its larger cultural spaces, so I envision this headquarters for Oolite being a contribution to the larger collection of institutional spaces in South Florida,” Oolite alum Germane Barnes told the Miami Herald, adding that he sees the new development in a similar vein to HdM’s Perez Art Museum or the ICA Miami.

"We understand architecture as a background for life or work. We try to give the artist the best conditions to work," founder Fabrizio Barozzi added in a statement. "And that means finding this balance between a very intimate space, which is represented by the studio, and a space for community life, which is part of Oolite’s DNA."

Barozzi Veiga said they will also aim for LEED Gold certification and expects the price tag to be around $30 million as originally planned.

The project will be the Spanish studio’s first built work in the United States. Barozzi Veiga had previously been commissioned to oversee the master plan development for the revamped Art Institute of Chicago and comes well-prepared for Miami’s newest cultural construction with a portfolio that includes the Mies van der Rohe Award-winning Szczecin Philharmonic Hall in Poland and Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts in Lausanne.

"I think that if we succeed with this balance between a calm atmosphere for artists that can be open and can be shared with the citizens of the neighborhood, the building will succeed,” Alberto Veiga said finally.

Plans are for construction to begin later this year with an expected completion set for early 2024.