In November 2010, construction began on the new MAM building in Museum Park in Downtown Miami. The building is designed by Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron,Caroline Roux (November 29, 2013), Architect Christine Binswanger on Pérez Art Museum Miami Financial Times. who were hired by Terence Riley, director of the museum in 2009, when plans were made. The structure is meant to resemble Stiltsville, which is the name given to a group of wooden houses built on stilts that stand off the coast of Key Biscayne in Biscayne Bay. The new museum building was built alongside the new Miami Science Museum building at the redesigned park. The three-story buildingRoberta Smith (November 27, 2013), Whitish Gray, Also Quite Green New York Times. has , composed of 120,000 interior square footage, and 80,000 exterior square footage. Inside the museum, display spaces can be illuminated by floor-to-ceiling windows, which can also be blocked off or used as backdrop. Otherwise the rooms get clinically even light delivered by strips of fluorescent tubes, though spotlights can also be used. A grand staircase — nearly the entire 180-foot width of the platform — connects it to the waterfront.Nicolai Ouroussoff (November 23, 2009), Matching Architecture to the Art in a New Miami Museum New York Times. Thick, sound-absorbing curtains cordon off one large or two small areas of the stair for programs.
