Overtown Pedestrian Mall

Overtown Pedestrian Mall

Wallace, Roberts & Todd : Gerald Marston

Location : Miami, USA. Date of completion : 1994. Architect : Wallace, Roberts & Todd : Gerald Marston. Photography : Gary Knight & Associates.

Overtown is the name used for the African-American district of Miami, where this pedestrian zone project is now located.

The Overtown pedestrian zone is part of a policy of revitalization, both economical and cultural, to stimulate both private investment and community pride in this historic district.

The project and its execution were carried out in the record time of four months, all the more commendable considering that the process involved public bodies, residents associations, and such groups as landscape architect, civil engineers, and even a local artist. Gary Moore. The latter, together with Gerrald Marston, the landscape architect of the firm Wallace, Roberts & Todd, were the leading lights behind the genesis and coordination of the project’s basic concept, in which spesial importance was given to historical and cultural references, the sense of African American vibrancy, and the use of metaphoric meaning.

The project consists of two elements; one involving the closure of a section of the public highway to traffic; and the other, perpendicular to the first, running under the Dade County Railroad

(adapted from The World of Contemporary Architecture XX)