Marine Stadium | Key Biscayne
The 6,566 seat stadium was designed by architect Hilario Candela, a 28-year-old recent immigrant from Cuba at that time considered a Modernist icon because of its cantilevered, fold-plate roof and construction of lightweight, poured-in-place concrete, popular in mid-century stadiums. At 326 feet in length (longer than a football field), it was the longest span of cantilevered concrete in the world when it was built. Its eight big slanted columns are anchored in the ground. In the wake of Hurricane Andrew, it was declared an unsafe building under Miami-Dade County building code and shuttered by the City of Miami on September 18, 1992. An engineering study demonstrated it was sound and not damaged by the hurricane but it was closed to the public, nonetheless. Since then, the stadium has become a haven for vandals, graffiti artists and taggers.