Now that Miami’s Marine Stadium has made the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s “11 Most Endangered List” and the 2010 watch list of World Monuments fund, a new organization has initiated a design competition to bring back its floating stage.

“We want a unique and spectacular building,” said Don Worth co-founder of the Friends of Marine Stadium.  “We want to see what can be done – we want a broad array of ideas for a new stage for events at the stadium.”

The original floating stage was little more than an oil barge, and sank years ago.

Among the judges is Hilario Candela, who designed the stadium at age 28 and now leads the effort to restore it nearly a half century later. “This is an opportunity to think outside the box, but with a real project,” he said.

Floating stages are few and far between, Worth noted.  “In Singapore, there’s the floating soccer field,” he said.  “And Louis Kahn did the modernist musical barge called the Point Counterpoint, for the American Wind Symphony Orchestra.”

The complete Jury for the DawnTown 2011 Floating Stage design competition includes:

Hilario Candela, original architect of the Miami Marine Stadium

Walter Meyer, Principal of Local Office Landscape Architect

Jorge Hernandez, architect and Co-Founder of Friends of Miami Marine Stadium

Michele Oka Doner, internationally recognized artist

Lawrence Scarpa, Principal of Brooks + Scarpa

Frank Sanchis, Director for US Programs of the World Monuments Fund 

The Friends group is helping to sponsor the contest awards, along with Miami Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Deadline for entries is April 11, 2011.

For more on the competition, go to http://marinestadium.org/news/510 

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