Bahia Mar Resort, Yachting Center redesign will improve access

Bahia Mar Resort and Yachting Center’s redesign will improve community and public access as well as improve infrastructure used by the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.

A residential 45-foot “floating platform,” that’s slated for completion by 2020 will allow pedestrian and mobile traffic patterns to flow seamlessly.

Lead by architect Kobi Karp, the project will introduce new buildings and urban sustainable and resilient solutions to sea level rise while integrating a creative cultural design to provide the marina with a progressive community dynamic.

“As the architect for the project, our role is to find an urban solution as well as a creative cultural design – a solution that is progressive and community/public oriented as this highly unique site is inherently a Fort Lauderdale district,” Karp stated in a project Q & A.

Keeping Bahia Mar as the host for the largest boat show in the world was a major selling point on getting this project approved.

“We designed and created an opportunity to provide a mixed-use, cutting edge design in a sea side urban infill location,” Karp explained. “The location will be a world renowned cutting edge design set in a nautical inspiration being pushed forward by the unique DNA of Fort Lauderdale.”

Inspiration for the new marina design came from the historical relationship of a nautical marina and residential lifestyle along the water, a feature that originally existed in Fort Lauderdale.

“We took that original DNA to build and develop a nautical marina-inspired building design which meets the sustainability and resiliency programs required by the city of Fort Lauderdale,” Karp added. “The program was designed as an urban infill with streets and passages allowing for pedestrian and vehicles to live in harmony and in essence returning the site to the public domain in public use and community functions on an ongoing daily basis.”

Sustainability and resiliency are the anchors of the design, which is inspired by similar seaside villages as such as those found in south of France, Mediterranean side of Italy, DUBAI, Cape Town, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The new approved design will allow the neighboring community and public to enter and access the site for their ongoing daily shopping, daily mingling, community use of the public promenade with green spaces and parks, Karp added.