Royal Caribbean’s Giant New Cruise Ship Terminal at The Port is Officially A Go

Unknown-2

Miami-Dade County Commissioners have officially approved a deal with Royal Caribbean Cruises to build a new terminal capable of handling the world’s largest cruise ships at the Port of Miami. The vote was unanimous, reports TRD, and the architecturally dramatic, 170,000 square foot ‘Crown of Miami’ as Royal calls it is moving forward. Completion is expected by 2018.

Broadway Malyan Beat Out Zaha, Bjarke to Design Royal’s Gigantic New Terminal

Renderigs via The Next Miami.

Renderigs via The Next Miami.

Royal Caribbean’s gigantic new cruise ship terminal coming to PortMiami, which was announced last night, is the result of an international design competition in which five firms participated, including Zaha Hadid Architects and Bjarke Ingels. Back in March, Travel Weekly published short descriptions of each of the five proposals (H/T: The Next Miami). The other participating teams included Aedas, Asymptote Architects, and of course the winners, Broadway Malyan (renderings for which can be seen below and above).

This is how Travel Weekly described the other four designs:

  • Aedas – A giant, bright blue Transformers toy.
  • Bjarke Ingels Group – Inspired by Lincoln Road, with canopies stacked atop each other, along with a park and trees inside the terminal.
  • Zaha Hadid – “very futuristic,” with a concert hall inside.
  • Asymptote – draped with “a billion LED lights” for a different display every night.

The Next Miami quoted Royal Caribbean Cruises as saying, about the winning design:

The 170,000-square-foot terminal is nicknamed the ‘Crown of Miami’ because of its distinct shape. The design evokes the points of the symbolic headgear when viewed from the water; the ‘M’ of Miami when viewed from the east or western approaches; and a sense of waves rising or ships passing when viewed from the terminal side. At night, the terminal’s facade will be lit ensuring that the building makes a striking impression and providing a dynamic addition to the PortMiami landscape.

World’s Biggest Cruise Ships Coming to Gigantic New PortMiami Terminal

Via Royal Caribbean.

Via Royal Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean Cruises and Miami-Dade County announced a deal yesterday night to bring Royal’s Oasis class cruise ships, currently the world’s largest, to the Port of Miami along with a dramatic and huge new Terminal A to accommodate them, reports the Miami Herald. Designed by international architecture firm Broadway Malyan, the crown-shaped terminal (they’re calling it the ‘Crown of Miami.’ We’re sensing a theme here.) has two jaunty wings that will enclose soaring interior spaces. Inside, two propellers spinning overhead will greet passengers as they enter the concourse. The dock will have space for vessels up to 1,300 feet in size (Oasis class ships are nearly 1,200 feet long) and a parking garage will contain space for 1,000 cars.

Paid for almost entirely by Royal Caribbean (the county is pitching in $15 million for new roads approaching the $247 million terminal), the new terminal is predicted to have a vast economic impact, indirectly creating a whopping 4,000 new jobs and injecting $500 million annually into the local economy. It will also, finally, bring the world’s biggest cruise ships back to the world’s biggest cruise port.

The Miami-Dade County Commission must vote on the deal before it becomes final. Once that happens, the new terminal should be ready for business by 2018.