

Miami Beach Convention Center renovation planning is steamrolling ahead, again, and this time city pols are even more eager to get the damn thing rebuilt with the current design team of Fentress Architects, Arquitectonica, and West 8. It may not be Rem Koolhaas, but the world must go on.

This iteration of the convention center is more evolution than revolution. It's being designed by three firms, and each firm is basically handling one area comprehensively. Almost everything seems to be getting upgraded, but nothing radically new, or bold, is being added. Fentress, stoically utilitarian and efficient in their planning of interior spaces, is doing the interiors. They're reorganizing the halls and adding a ballroom and parking in a new wing. Arquitectonica, the aesthetes, are doing the facades, creating the general exterior look of building. And West 8 is turning under-utilized exterior open space in to parks, as well as a large veteran's memorial. And that's basically it.

· Arquitectonica's new design for the Miami Beach Convention Center [The Next Miami]

· Miami Beach Convention Center coverage [Curbed Miami]