The Mobility Hub, Coral Gables

Coral Gables is a city uniquely founded on Mediterranean architecture.

Its original founders introduced Spanish Plateresco style during a time when the vastly more popular Art Deco Style had begun to sweep across the United States. This unique choice gave rise to enduring Mediterranean-themed landmarks such as the Douglas Entrance, The Colonnade, City Hall and Venetian Pool.

Monitoring how slowly the current design for The Mobility Hub has progressed, we saw opportunity to improve the public process and revisit the design with a culturally-sensitive approach.

Our design draws from two major sources: the Art Deco Style that speaks to residents’ selection for the design of The Mobility Hub and the Mediterranean tradition that grounds The City’s historic identity. Commissioners asked for a Mobility Hub that is forward-thinking but still resonates with the fabric of Coral Gables’ architecture.

Using a publication made by The City of Coral Gables Board of Architects in 1985, we were challenged by the current design for The Mobility Hub to think more about scale, function, and identity. The publication we use was created by city architects to guide future architectural design for the City of Coral Gables. We do not believe discarding it in favor of Modern, Internationalist-Style is the only solution for The Mobility Hub.

SCALE AND MASSING
City planners developed a program for 600 cars. Through using a stepped massing, possible with Art Deco and Mediterranean Architecture, we re-scaled the building so it relates more naturally to its surroundings, turning what could be a monolithic International-Style garage into a warming civic building that breathes into the city it was designed to support.

Recognizing there are also proposals to reduce the parking count to 400 cars, we made a strategic shift in our design to scale-back the massing further, listening to residents’ concerns. By incorporating detailing from the Spanish Plateresco style, just as the original Coral Gables architects did, our proposed changes enable the building to recede more gracefully into its surroundings, mitigating its presence while creating an unparalleled pedestrian-friendly experience.

The interior space and lobby of our garage design will be inspired by a scaled-up version of the beautiful ceilings of our original civic buildings; the frescos and pecky cypress found in City call, The Biltmore and The George Fink’s studio.