Johnston Marklee lifts Bass Museum expansion above Miami Beach floodwaters

Johnston Marklee has unveiled a 22,000-square-foot expansion for the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach, with two rectangular pavilions raised off the ground on a thin concrete plane.

The California studio's scheme extends the museum into the southwest corner of its campus, mixing indoor and outdoor space. Renderings show the pavilions lifted above grade to meet "resiliency guidelines" — a likely nod to Miami-Dade County's stated floodwater risks from sea-level rise. Courtyards will pass underneath the raised structure.

That lift does more than keep the art dry. According to founding partner Sharon Johnston, elevating the buildings keeps the corner of the property open and increases public access. She called the project "transformative".

"Through careful analysis of light and shadow, space and volume, and the surrounding park and urban context, we are planning a transformative project that will increase public access to the museum's programs and artworks," said Johnston.

What does the expansion actually look like?

Formally, the design splits its material character by level. The upper pavilion structures get sheer white walls, while the ground-level walls beneath them carry more texture.

At the centre of the project, a backlit oculus will illuminate the passage under the structure at night. The passages will also lead to landscape garden areas, and the blank face of one pavilion will serve as a screen for screenings.

That garden space connects to the trees of Collins Park, which extends from the east face of the museum. Facade perforations will run along the tops of the rectangular pavilions and across the walls separating the covered courtyards from the street.

The primary exhibition space will sit inside the pavilion structures. Renderings show white-wall galleries, rectangular windows and a skylight topping the pavilion nearest the Isozaki building.

How does it fit the museum's history?

The expansion joins a campus with layered architectural provenance. Russell Pancoast designed the original art deco building as a library in the 1930s, before the Bass opened in 1964. Japanese architect Arata Isozaki later added his own expansion.

Founding partner Mark Lee said the new work deliberately engages both legacies.

"We are thrilled to reimagine the southwest corner of Collins Park for The Bass," said Lee. "This project continues the storied architectural heritage of the museum, preserving Russell Pancoast's 1942 Art Deco design while honoring Arata Isozaki's vision of a porous campus."

Johnston Marklee's recent output spans scales and coasts. The studio has completed a green-metal skyscraper in Phoenix and a minimalist pavilion for Danish furniture brand Vipp in Upstate New York.

For Miami Beach, the design signals how low-lying cultural institutions are building for rising water — and, in this case, turning the required elevation into more public ground rather than less.