West Palm Beach Spotlight: A Newly Redesigned Waterfront

Can you imagine a completely redesigned waterfront in downtown West Palm Beach? Ecosistema Urbano, a Madrid-based design firm, recently won a competition for the best proposal to redesign the downtown West Palm waterfront area. The firm beat out more than 40 other international design teams in a competition organized by the West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment agency and a New York think tank called the Van Alen Institute.

The winning proposal incorporates the implementation of themed ‘domes’ along the West Palm waterfront. These domes would be the first bioclimatic domes in the U.S. and would provide comfortable public spaces, even on humid and rainy days. As an example, there would be hanging gardens in the Cloud Forest Habitat Plaza and marine flora in the Aquarium Plaza. Yoga and meditation would be found in the Mindfulness Plaza and recreational activities for adults and kids would be located in the Playscape Plaza.

This proposal also includes a transformation of the Banyan parking garage into the “Banyan Hub.” Ecosistema Urbano seek to convert the garage to a mixed-use facility for uses such as art shows, farmers markets and platforms to view the West Palm skyline. It is an exciting time to be a resident of West Palm Beach with so many new projects to talk about. You can see a rendering of the proposal below.