PLUS URBIA DESIGN'S WYNWOOD WALLS GARDEN DESIGN ON FULL DISPLAY IN MIAMI NEW TIMES

WYNWOOD WALLS GARDEN SURVIVES BASEL AND LOOKS AHEAD

By Hilary Saunders Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Wynwood has its walls and its doors. It has its kitchen and bar and its brewing company too. And now, ready or not, the Wynwood Walls Garden is ready for neighborhood usage.

Officially opened last month in time for Art Basel Miami Beach and Miami Art Week, the Wynwood Walls Garden represents another project spearheaded by Goldman Properties, the real-estate and urban development company that revitalized/gentrified the area. Goldman Properties commissioned six artists to draw murals on discarded, repurposed shipping containers, which were then stacked on top of each other to create an installation sculpture. 

The Wynwood Walls Garden also hosts the new "Walls of Change" exhibit. An additional 14 artists were invited to paint their visions of change on the walls surrounding the garden. Five U.S. muralists — Crash, Cryptik, Hueman, Logan Hicks, and Magnus Sodamin — joined Case (Germany), el Seed (France), Ernest Zacharevic (Singapore), Fafi (France), INTI (Chile), the London Police (UK), Pichi & Avo (Spain), and Alexis Diaz (Puerto Rico). In total, these elements of the outdoor exhibit encompass nearly half an acre just west of the Wynwood Doors (260 NW 26th St.). 

Coconut Grove’s award-winning design firm PlusUrbia worked in conjunction with Goldman Properties to conceptualize the space. In particular, the firm contributed to the landscaping and artistic integration. According to Santiago Eliaschev, director of architecture at PlusUrbia, “The idea was to take the Wynwood Walls and Doors concept a step further by merging art and nature. The garden itself was designed around sight lines and vantage points to experience the murals. 

“In essence, the garden functions as a stage where the murals are the protagonists. It’s a serene place to relax in the shade, a retreat from the concrete and asphalt.” 

According to the Real Deal, the Wynwood Walls Garden could soon be home to a restaurant or other retail space. It wouldn’t be surprising, because Joey’s Italian Café and Wynwood Kitchen & Bar flank the original Wynwood Walls. 

In the meantime, though, the space is open to the public, now free from Basel traffic and tourists. “Wynwood is about exploration and discovery as much as it is edgy and unrefined," Eliaschev adds. "We incorporate all these elements into an urban landscape, an oasis that enhances the way you experience art.

“In whatever way this space is used, we hope people can appreciate and experience how art and architecture and landscape can be combined to create a unique place.”

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/wynwood-walls-garden-survives-basel-and-looks-ahead-8152093 

 

MIAMI NEW TIMES HAS PLUS URBIA DESIGN'S WOONERF FEVER

Dutch-Style, Pedestrian-Friendly "Woonerf" Streets Could Come To Wynwood

PHOTO BY  Joel VanderWeele

By Jess Swanson

Wynwood might just get Miami's first woonerf. No, it's not the latest craft coffee or designer furniture craze — it's a Dutch term for a kind of pedestrian-friendly, low-speed street that can be walled off from cars on weekends.

And woonerfs are part of a larger proposal headed to the city commission tomorrow. Commissioners will consider the first comprehensive plan on how to change the neighborhood as it evolves from an industrial garment district into an arts-heavy, bars-and-restaurant-packed cultural district.

“Wynwood can evolve into what it wants to become: an arts and cultural district but with residential units and offices. All while still retaining the culture and character that it has today,” Juan Mullerat, the director of PlusUrbia, a Coconut Grove firm hired to create the plan, tells New Times.

Despite all the changes in recent years, Wynwood is still governed like the industrial district it was back when garment factories occupied its warehouses. Local business owners argue that the neighborhood could be more liveable and walkable, but the city's outdated, industrial zoning has kept their hands tied.

Enter PlusUrbia, which the Wynwood Business Improvement District (BID) hired to translate their ideas into a plan that commissioners could one day approve.
That day is finally here. Their works have been wound together in a proposal called the Wynwood Neighborhood Revitalization District (NRD) Plan. On June 17, the plan passed unanimously in the Planning, Zoning and Approval Board. On Thursday, the NRD Plan will be brought to commissioners for the first time. If approved, the plan will usher in a new phase for Wynwood.

Wynwood will be the first “NRD” in the city. PlusUrbia and the Wynwood BID crafted this new term because Miami has never had a neighborhood quite like Wynwood before. Their focus in on retaining the art and culture, a much harder concept to define.

The last thing Mullerat, his team, and the business owners want to do is destroy Wynwood's character. They want the iconic murals to stay on the walls, and they want artists to continue painting them. “That's why it's so difficult. We don't want to get rid of what we have today but still evolve with local businesses. It's not a simple rezoning,” he explains.

Their plan calls for a “diversification of uses,” which broadens what types of structures can operate in the neighborhood. The plan calls for more residential, small-dwelling units in order to keep costs low and affordable for the people who work and frequent Wynwood. “In turn, it maintains an option for artist and millennials to remain in the district,” Mullerat points out.

The urban planners tussled with the lack of green and open space in Wynwood. Wynwood Walls, where locals and tourists can walk around and look at the art, is the area's only real public space—even if it's technically operated on a private property. The plan calls for a fund to be created that would offer incentives to developers if they contribute to creating new green and open spaces.

That's where the woonerfs come in. The plan suggests creating the Dutch-style streets on First Avenue, Third Avenue, and First Place. According to Mullerat, woonerfs are typically curbless streets paved in a way that slows down traffic and opens the road to pedestrians and cyclists. They can even be shut down on the weekends to hold local events, like farmers markets.

“It's designed so that the cars go slower, the sidewalks are wide, and there's shade. It's not an open space but it provides some relief,” Mullerat explains.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/dutch-style-pedestrian-friendly-woonerf-streets-could-come-to-wynwood-7767722 


 

 

MIAMI NEW TIMES LOVES PLUS URBIA DESIGN'S REDESIGN OF CALLE OCHO

WHEELCHAIR USERS COULD SAFELY CROSS SW 8TH STREET IN MIAMI

Juan Mullerat argues that Calle Ocho is Miami’s most historic street, but sometime between now and the 1960s it was transformed into a three-lane highway to absorb the brunt of the city’s growing east-west commuters.

“I’m driving down it down and I don’t see anybody walking, just cars,” Mullerat tells New Times on his commute home. “I think the solution is in the back of everybody’s mind. It’s not visionary. It’s removing a highway and putting a real street where it’s supposed to go.”

Mullerat is the director of PlusUrbia, a small design firm in Coconut Grove. After the Florida Department of Transportation announced plans to redevelop roadway designs of Calle Ocho from NW 27th Avenue to NW First Avenue, his team began working. For the last few months, Mullerat and a team PlusUrbia designers tackled the “Highway Ocho” problem pro-bono, trying to return Calle Ocho to the calm, pedestrian-friendly main street it was 50 years ago. They released their proposal yesterday.

Mullerat has spoken with the Calle Ocho Merchants Association, the Little Havana Association, and the Shenandoah Association. Mullerat lives with his wife and daughters three blocks away from Calle Ocho. His colleague, Steven Wright, leaves nearby too. Mullerat stresses that their design is a sketch of all the ideas the community seems to already agree on. “The neighborhood wants a calmer, more pedestrian-friendly street. We just put it on paper,” he says.

Some time in the 1960s that 7th Street and Eighth Street became one-way and an extra lane was added to them. “Back in the '60s all cities around the country were traffic-oriented. The interest was to move as many cars as fast as they could to alleviate traffic,” Mullerat explains. “Over the years, Calle Ocho became a dangerous street for pedestrians.”

The plans include returning Calle Ocho to be a two-way, two-lane street, as it was originally. They also extend the sidewalk to comfortably fit passersby and add a bike lane and bus-only lane. Parallel parking on both sides of the street will be available, too. However, to compensate, one driving lane will be removed. “We want to try to get better streets, to walk down Calle Ocho with a stroller and be comfortable, and see bikes and trees when we walk to see its quality retail, and not just go in my car,” Mullerat says.

Mullerat also stresses that his firm has no stake in the project. Even if the FDOT accepts their proposal, they don’t receive any money. “At the end of the day, it’s an FDOT project. Our stake is literally zero,” he says. “I live three blocks away. I want my main street. Calle Ocho is the center of Miami why not support it and let the street become better. That’s our stake.”

Whether or not the FDOT accepts PlusUrbia’s proposal, Mullerat fears that FDOT won’t take the opportunity to bring real change. “There’s an effort out there to make better streets. We just want to make sure they are better. I would hate for the powers that be to just put a couple of trees and benches and call it a day,” he sighs.

Link to Miami New Times story:

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/urban-planners-turn-calle-ocho-back-to-two-lane-pedestrian-friendly-street-7756355