Gómez Platero proposes four skyscrapers at former site of the Miami Herald

Uruguay architecture studio Gómez Platero has proposed "four irregularly shaped towers" as part of mixed-use development on the Miami waterfront at the former site of the city's historic Miami Herald building.

The Miami Bay Towers scheme by Gómez Platero is designed to fit into the rectangular waterfront site between Highway A1A and the Venetian Causeway, which was once home to the 1960s Miami Herald headquarters, a sprawling Miami Modern building knocked down in 2014.

Upon the site's $1.2 billion sale in 2023, former Miami mayor Francis Suarez called the site "the most valuable piece of property in America".

Gómez Platero has envisioned a mixed-use development for the site, with four "polyhedral" skyscrapers containing primarily residential units, mixed with a hotel, restaurants, bars and a spa.

Renders show the skyscrapers with chunky, geometric bases and towers with cantilevers and setbacks that create an angular silhouette across the project.

"The architectural proposal introduces four irregularly shaped towers with multifunctional podiums, aiming to maximise the visual and functional quality of the space while seamlessly integrating with the coastal edge and urban environment," said the studio.

"The towers, envisioned as polyhedral volumes, break away from traditional orthogonal forms. The staggered silhouette emphasizes verticality and reduces perceived mass, creating an articulated ensemble with no 'back side'."

At its base, a commercial walkway would link the four skyscrapers and further link the entire development to the surroundings, including a pedestrian passageway under the highway access viaduct to the nearby Pérez Art Museum Miami.

Renders show commercial programming along this ground level, as well as a network of walkways to a marina that stretches out into Biscayne Bay.

According to the studio, the towers would have "reinforced vertical circulation cores and an external framework of angled columns that optimally transfer loads to the podium".

It is also designed to be developed in phases, with two towers constructed at a time, to "optimise construction logistics and ensure profitability at each stage".

Gómez Platero previously proposed a design for a memorial to the COVID-19 pandemic installed off the coast of Uruguay.

While the Miami Bay Towers scheme is a proposal, a number of skyscrapers have been announced in Miami, including designs by Carlos Ott and David Chipperfield.

Meanwhile, the city's historic Mandarin Oriental hotel was demolished earlier this year in the city's largest implosion in a decade to make room for another Mandarin Oriental hotel on the same site, while the Mandarin Oriental Residences tower designed by Safdie Architects is going up elsewhere in the city.

The images are courtesy of Gómez Platero.

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