Project 04, 2nd Edition Modern Construction Case Studies - Precedent: Yoyogi National Stadium, Tokyo designed by Kenzo Tange
Project 04: Toward a Participatory Civic Architecture Rooted in Place and Perception
Project 04 is a subterranean conference center located in Miami, comprised of two expansive, column-free spaces sheltered beneath sculptural, tent-like roofs. Conceived as a landscape intervention as much as a piece of architecture, the center is embedded below ground level, with only its expressive roof structures emerging above the surrounding park. This gesture minimizes its visual impact on the urban environment while asserting a symbolic presence through form alone.
The design is informed by the principles of critical regionalism, as theorized by Kenneth Frampton (1983), who argued for an architecture that resists the placelessness of global modernism through a re-engagement with local topography, climate, and culture. The tent-like roof structures of Project 04 deliberately recall the National Gymnastics Centers designed by Kenzo Tange for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics—a global architectural precedent—but they are reinterpreted here through a contemporary lens, situated within the humid, lush conditions of Miami’s coastal landscape. This fusion of precedent and locality creates a productive tension between memory and immediacy, past and present.
Internally, the spatial organization resists the typical logic of large-scale institutional spaces. The decision to maintain a level floor throughout the interior reflects a conscious departure from hierarchical spatial typologies. In contrast to the theater-like configuration of most conference centers, Project 04 enables reconfigurable seating arrangements and supports non-linear, participatory gatherings. This flexibility aligns with Henri Lefebvre’s (1991) theory of the production of space, wherein spatial organization is not merely a neutral container but an active agent shaping social relations. The absence of tiered seating removes the spatial cues of performance and spectatorship, inviting users to co-create the events within.
Overhead, the expansive roofs are not merely protective shells but critical components of the project's experiential and conceptual framework. Their curvature and structural lightness create a shifting play of light, shadow, and spatial rhythm—elements central to David Leatherbarrow’s (2009) argument that architecture is primarily understood through its temporal and sensory presence. Leatherbarrow insists that the identity of a building is not fully disclosed in a single moment, image, or encounter, but unfolds through occupation and perception across time. In this sense, the roof structures act not only as formal references to earlier modernist works but as instruments for architectural duration—mediating the sky, reframing the horizon, and making visible the passage of time through light and weather.
The materials and methods used in the construction of Project 04 reflect a synthesis of historical typology and contemporary technology. While the geometric logic of the Olympic Gymnastics Centers informs the formal language, the actual construction relies on digitally-fabricated, high-performance components. These enable the realization of complex curvature and structural efficiency previously unattainable at such a scale. In this way, the project participates in what Sanford Kwinter (2001) describes as the “field condition” of contemporary architecture—an understanding of form and material not as static entities but as dynamic systems that emerge from the interplay of cultural, environmental, and technological forces.
Thus, Project 04 positions itself as a critique of the standard conference center typology. It resists the reductive logic of pure functionality and spectacle, proposing instead a civic space that is spatially generous, experientially rich, and conceptually layered. By combining formal reference, theoretical grounding, and technological innovation, it advances a model for public architecture that is simultaneously grounded and aspirational—an architecture that speaks both to where it is and what it might become.
References
Frampton, Kenneth. (1983). Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance. In Foster, Hal (Ed.), The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture.
Lefebvre, Henri. (1991). The Production of Space. Trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith.
Leatherbarrow, David. (2009). Architecture Oriented Otherwise.
Kwinter, Sanford. (2001). Architectures of Time: Toward a Theory of the Event in Modernist Culture.
