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Posted on Sat, Mar. 24, 2012
Vision becomes artistic reality at Miami Marlins Park
By Clark Spencer
cspencer@miamiherald.com
Al Diaz / Miami Herald Staff
Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria at Marlins Park on Tuesday, March 13, 2012.
It began four years ago on a paper napkin.
That’s when Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria sat down with renowned ballpark architect Earl Santee to discuss his vision of how a Major League baseball venue in Miami should look.
Santee had worked on a number of the big-league ballparks designed and constructed over the past decade, including PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Minute Maid Park in Houston, and the new Yankee Stadium.
But Loria wanted something altogether different, a place that would help accentuate Miami’s landscape. Something contemporary. Something colorful. Something different.
And so, at their meeting in the lobby of the Claridge’s hotel in London, Loria grabbed a napkin, sketched out a rough rendering of the type of ballpark he had in mind, and handed it over to Santee.
“My words to him were, ‘I want you to take this and bring me back some real drawings,’ ” Loria recalled. “I did not want to see us build a building that was a concrete mass. It had to be something that would fit into Miami’s plan for beautiful buildings going forward and great contemporary architecture.”
Santee, in Loria’s estimation, hit a home run.
“The net result is what you see right here,” Loria said recently as, all around him, workers were applying the finishing touches to Marlins Park in Little Havana. “It works — and it works beautifully.”
A new playground
When fans file into the 37,000-seat retractable-roof ballpark for the Miami Marlins’ season opener April 4, as well as an upcoming pair of exhibition contests on April 1 and 2 against the New York Yankees, Loria is hoping they’ll find not just a traditional field of grass and dirt for baseball, but also a playground for the imagination.
He’s hoping they will admire the art found inside and out, take note of the vibrant colors that brighten the interior, and marvel at the one-of-a-kind attractions, from a large collection of bobbleheads to the ballpark centerpiece, a psychedelic home run sculpture in center field.
“It’s part of what I wanted to see happen in the ballpark, where people get to use their eyes, see things they might not ordinarily see, and to have an experience that goes along with baseball,” said Loria, an art dealer and the Marlins’ owner since 2002. “It’s not intended to be a museum. It’s an experience of elements related to the ballpark, the culture and the game.”
Examples of that include:
•The colors. Some of the new ballparks built in recent years went with a rustic retro look designed to stir images of baseball’s long history. But Loria didn’t want another ballpark with antique green seats and steel girders. He wanted the place to look ultra-modern and feel Miami.
“When I gave that little sketch to the architect, part of the discussion was, ‘We can go back. We can look back. But we need to look forward, so I want you to come back to me with some contemporary drawings that are circular and glass and steel,’ ” Loria said. “They nailed it. It was perfect.”
Loria, working in conjunction with the Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places, added his own touch. On a trip to Barcelona a few years ago, he found work done by Joan Miro, the great Spanish artist and sculpter.
His personal touch
“I went to the Miro Foundation and realized his palate was about color — red, yellow, blue and green,” Loria said. “I brought back samples of those colors and we all decided we would divide up the building into those four colors. It’s an easy way for people to find their way around the building and to identify where they are.”
The ballpark’s main concourse — or “promenade” is divided into four, colored quadrants.
•The art. Along with the colors drawn from his work, a ceramic of Miro’s artistry hangs on the wall in the main entrance.
Other art pieces found inside the facility include Roy Lichtenstein’s “Baseball Manager” and a painting by pop artist Kenny Scharf entitled “Play Ball.” Red Grooms did the 71-foot tall home run sculpture in center, which is already a talking piece.
“It will contain a lot of motion,” Loria said. “There are marlins that spin around and end up diving in the water, causing the water to splash. The marlin at the top spins around. There are seagulls that fly in the opposite direction the fish are going. Waves of water move. There’s an LED light show in the middle of it.”
•The design. The ballpark is a conglomeration of geometric shapes. The building itself is circular. The video matrix scoreboard is a trapezoid. The stadium’s only ramp is cantilevered. The players’ clubhouse is curvilinear, in a teardrop shape. And on and on it goes.
And then there the other touches.
The flooring in the player’s area is made out of recycled sneakers.
“It’s a very nice touch from an environmental standpoint,” said team president David Samson. “It’s very good for spikes and easy to maintain.”
The glass-enclosed, indoor batting cages allow fans to watch the players work on their swings.
Just a work area
While bright, dynamic colors run rampant throughout the ballpark, the one place where none is found is the training room for players. It was painted white for a reason — to make it as dull as possible.
“We don’t want players hanging out in there,” Samson said. “There are some training rooms that have lounge chairs and huge televisions. We want players coming in here, getting their work done, and getting out.”
The Marlins are trying to make the ballpark as friendly as possible for fans of all ages.
The counters are lower at the kids’ concession stands.
Wi-Fi internet service is available throughout the ballpark, even the bathrooms and stairwells.
Using an App on their smartphones, fans can place and pay for food orders at their seats at pick up the items without waiting in line.
“You will get to bypass the line when you walk up to your concession stand,” Samson said. “You will have paid for it with your credit card on your phone. There will never be in-seat service, which is laden with delays and obstructions. It’s the No. 1 thing people complain about when they’re sitting in their seat.”
Players impressed
Marlins players like what they’ve seen so far. Most of them played in one of the two “soft-opening” college exhibition games earlier in March.
“I like the colors, the brightness,” said outfielder Logan Morrison. “The other stadiums have bright colors, but not as bright as this one. I don’t think there’s another city like Miami, so I think it’s pretty fitting.”
Then again, as Samson said, “this ballpark was built not for the players, and certainly not for us. It was built for Miami and South Florida.”
That’s the idea, at least.
Asked if he thought the new ballpark would work in, say, the Midwest, Loria thought for a moment before answering.
“You could have built it anywhere,” Loria said. “But it’s best here in Miami.”
Vision becomes artistic reality at Miami Marlins Park
By Clark Spencer
cspencer@miamiherald.com
Al Diaz / Miami Herald Staff
Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria at Marlins Park on Tuesday, March 13, 2012.
It began four years ago on a paper napkin.
That’s when Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria sat down with renowned ballpark architect Earl Santee to discuss his vision of how a Major League baseball venue in Miami should look.
Santee had worked on a number of the big-league ballparks designed and constructed over the past decade, including PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Minute Maid Park in Houston, and the new Yankee Stadium.
But Loria wanted something altogether different, a place that would help accentuate Miami’s landscape. Something contemporary. Something colorful. Something different.
And so, at their meeting in the lobby of the Claridge’s hotel in London, Loria grabbed a napkin, sketched out a rough rendering of the type of ballpark he had in mind, and handed it over to Santee.
“My words to him were, ‘I want you to take this and bring me back some real drawings,’ ” Loria recalled. “I did not want to see us build a building that was a concrete mass. It had to be something that would fit into Miami’s plan for beautiful buildings going forward and great contemporary architecture.”
Santee, in Loria’s estimation, hit a home run.
“The net result is what you see right here,” Loria said recently as, all around him, workers were applying the finishing touches to Marlins Park in Little Havana. “It works — and it works beautifully.”
A new playground
When fans file into the 37,000-seat retractable-roof ballpark for the Miami Marlins’ season opener April 4, as well as an upcoming pair of exhibition contests on April 1 and 2 against the New York Yankees, Loria is hoping they’ll find not just a traditional field of grass and dirt for baseball, but also a playground for the imagination.
He’s hoping they will admire the art found inside and out, take note of the vibrant colors that brighten the interior, and marvel at the one-of-a-kind attractions, from a large collection of bobbleheads to the ballpark centerpiece, a psychedelic home run sculpture in center field.
“It’s part of what I wanted to see happen in the ballpark, where people get to use their eyes, see things they might not ordinarily see, and to have an experience that goes along with baseball,” said Loria, an art dealer and the Marlins’ owner since 2002. “It’s not intended to be a museum. It’s an experience of elements related to the ballpark, the culture and the game.”
Examples of that include:
•The colors. Some of the new ballparks built in recent years went with a rustic retro look designed to stir images of baseball’s long history. But Loria didn’t want another ballpark with antique green seats and steel girders. He wanted the place to look ultra-modern and feel Miami.
“When I gave that little sketch to the architect, part of the discussion was, ‘We can go back. We can look back. But we need to look forward, so I want you to come back to me with some contemporary drawings that are circular and glass and steel,’ ” Loria said. “They nailed it. It was perfect.”
Loria, working in conjunction with the Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places, added his own touch. On a trip to Barcelona a few years ago, he found work done by Joan Miro, the great Spanish artist and sculpter.
His personal touch
“I went to the Miro Foundation and realized his palate was about color — red, yellow, blue and green,” Loria said. “I brought back samples of those colors and we all decided we would divide up the building into those four colors. It’s an easy way for people to find their way around the building and to identify where they are.”
The ballpark’s main concourse — or “promenade” is divided into four, colored quadrants.
•The art. Along with the colors drawn from his work, a ceramic of Miro’s artistry hangs on the wall in the main entrance.
Other art pieces found inside the facility include Roy Lichtenstein’s “Baseball Manager” and a painting by pop artist Kenny Scharf entitled “Play Ball.” Red Grooms did the 71-foot tall home run sculpture in center, which is already a talking piece.
“It will contain a lot of motion,” Loria said. “There are marlins that spin around and end up diving in the water, causing the water to splash. The marlin at the top spins around. There are seagulls that fly in the opposite direction the fish are going. Waves of water move. There’s an LED light show in the middle of it.”
•The design. The ballpark is a conglomeration of geometric shapes. The building itself is circular. The video matrix scoreboard is a trapezoid. The stadium’s only ramp is cantilevered. The players’ clubhouse is curvilinear, in a teardrop shape. And on and on it goes.
And then there the other touches.
The flooring in the player’s area is made out of recycled sneakers.
“It’s a very nice touch from an environmental standpoint,” said team president David Samson. “It’s very good for spikes and easy to maintain.”
The glass-enclosed, indoor batting cages allow fans to watch the players work on their swings.
Just a work area
While bright, dynamic colors run rampant throughout the ballpark, the one place where none is found is the training room for players. It was painted white for a reason — to make it as dull as possible.
“We don’t want players hanging out in there,” Samson said. “There are some training rooms that have lounge chairs and huge televisions. We want players coming in here, getting their work done, and getting out.”
The Marlins are trying to make the ballpark as friendly as possible for fans of all ages.
The counters are lower at the kids’ concession stands.
Wi-Fi internet service is available throughout the ballpark, even the bathrooms and stairwells.
Using an App on their smartphones, fans can place and pay for food orders at their seats at pick up the items without waiting in line.
“You will get to bypass the line when you walk up to your concession stand,” Samson said. “You will have paid for it with your credit card on your phone. There will never be in-seat service, which is laden with delays and obstructions. It’s the No. 1 thing people complain about when they’re sitting in their seat.”
Players impressed
Marlins players like what they’ve seen so far. Most of them played in one of the two “soft-opening” college exhibition games earlier in March.
“I like the colors, the brightness,” said outfielder Logan Morrison. “The other stadiums have bright colors, but not as bright as this one. I don’t think there’s another city like Miami, so I think it’s pretty fitting.”
Then again, as Samson said, “this ballpark was built not for the players, and certainly not for us. It was built for Miami and South Florida.”
That’s the idea, at least.
Asked if he thought the new ballpark would work in, say, the Midwest, Loria thought for a moment before answering.
“You could have built it anywhere,” Loria said. “But it’s best here in Miami.”
Parking will be a learning curve: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/2...rve.html#moreb
Marlins have a fighting chance: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/2...ing.html#morer
Players getting to know their field: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/2...ing.html#morer
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