Skatebird Skatepark

Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis

SKATEBIRD SKATEPARK

GELPI PROJECTS

ARCHITECTS
GELPI PROJECTS

LOCATION
Miami, United States

CATEGORY
Recreation & Training, Skatepark

AREA
38000 ft²

YEAR
2022

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
MAKwork Inc

ARCHITECT
Nick Gelpi

GENERAL CONTRACTOR
BASELINE Development

MURALS ARTIST
Magnus Sodamin

ENGINEER TEAM
Epic Forensics & Engineering

CIVIL ENGINEERING
Cherokee Consulting, Ken Groce

STEEL BUILDING FABRICATOR
Nu Scope Buildings

STEEL BUILDING
Perry Tabrizi

OWNER
Joner Strauss

Located at the edge of Miami in the Village of El Portal sits the newly completed Skatebird Skatepark, a large open-air urban space that exists as a skatepark, event space, and place for the arts.

Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis
Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis

At approximately 38,000 square feet, the skatepark consists of three parts: the skateable terrain, the enclosing walls, and the large roof that covers half the site, providing a dry and shady spot for visitors to escape harsh sunlight, as well as sporadic rainfall.

Wall murals of several well-known Miami artists, including Magnus Sodamin, are painted on the park’s surface to welcome visitors to the park and highlight the warping surfaces and changes in elevation upon entrance.

Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis
Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis

Although the building’s elements are designed to the requirements of strict building codes, the surfaces of the skatepark present a playful contrast with fluid forms and alternative ways of inhabiting space.

The plaza remains open, in regards to both space and use, while the cathedral is a monumental space beneath a massive roof.

Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis
Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis

Beyond a place for skating, the park acts as a place to gather. Micro-retail venues line the east and west sides of the park within repurposed shipping containers that are stacked on two levels. The skatepark’s ground plain swells up to connect to the second-story level, where open observation balconies surround the park.

The large ground plain of the park creates an unusual urban plaza, featuring a landscape of topography in a southern Florida region known to be persistently flat.

Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis
Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis
Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis

Without the hills and mounds found in landscapes elsewhere in the world, this skatepark offers ramps, mounds, banks, drops, and edges, which merge with more conventional means of traversing a site, such as sidewalks and stairs, to create a new hybrid space between a conventional building and a foreign landscape.


Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis
Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis


Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis
Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis
Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis


Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis
Skatebird Skatepark
© Michael Stavardis