Page 24 - ArchDC_Fall 2020

Chapter Design Award in Architecture/
Citation for Urban Catalyst
Brightline

Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, FL
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
in association with Zyscovich
Architects
Residential Architects: NBWW
Interior Designers: Rockwell Group
Landscape Architects: ESDA
Lighting Designers: Domingo Gonzalez Associates
Signage & Wayfinding Designers: Pentagram
Structural Engineers: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; TY Lin
Train Viaduct Engineers: EAC; URS
MEP Engineers: TLC
Civil Engineers: Chen Moore
Code Consultants: CCI
Vertical Transportation Consultants: VDA MiamiCentral station. The red “V” reflected the Brightline’s planned rebranding Photo Lucas Blair Simpson © SOM
General Contractors: Suffolk Construction Company; as Virgin Trains USA, a deal that subsequently fell through.
Moss & Associates

The geography of Florida—a long, relatively narrow peninsula
with much of its population forming a linear megalopolis
along the Atlantic coast—would seem to be ideally suited for
rail transportation. Indeed, it was Henry Flagler’s Florida East
Coast Railway, built between 1885 and 1912 (largely using
forced convict labor, unfortunately) that paved the way for
South Florida’s initial development. By the mid-20th century,
however, cars had already overtaken trains as the primary
means of reaching the subtropical paradise, and by the end of
the century, ribbons of traffic-choked highways were a defining
characteristic of the state.
In 2012, the direct corporate descendant of Flagler’s
company announced plans to build a modern railway called the
Brightline, which would ultimately connect Miami and Orlando,
with intermediate stops in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm
Beach. Inaugurated in 2018, the line current serves the three
South Florida cities, with the extension to Orlando expected to West Palm Beach Brightline station. Photo Lucas Blair Simpson © SOM
open in 2022, and several other possible expansions still under
consideration. A deal with Virgin Group, under which the line
would have been rebranded as Virgin Trains USA, recently
fell through.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), in collaboration with
Miami-based Zyscovich Architects, planned the entire project Ft. Lauderdale Brightline station.
and designed the three stations completed to date. A shared
architectural vocabulary, including multi-story, V-shaped
columns that form truss-like superstructures, establishes a
consistent visual identity for the three stations. Their bold forms
evoke certain heroic reinforced concrete structures by mid-20th-
century “tropical modernist” architects such as Félix Candela
and Oscar Niemeyer.
All three stations were conceived as hubs not only for
transportation, but also for urban life. The MiamiCentral
station forms the core of a multi-block, mixed-use development
including two residential towers, an office tower, and a retail

22 THE ARCHITECTURE OF INFRASTRUCTURE