In 1963, 28 year old Cuban architect Hilario Candela designed a 6,566 seat stadium specifically created for the presentation of world class water sports, at a cost of around $2 million. On the day it opened, a famous speed boat racer, James Tapp, was killed during a race, which didn’t bode well for the stadium’s karma. Regardless, it thrived for many years, and even evolved in the 70’s to include concerts and other sporting events like boxing as part of it’s purpose. Then Hurricane Andrew hit. On September 18th, of 1992, it was finally declared unsafe under the Miami-Dade County building code. Since that time, it has been overtaken by graffiti artists and photographers alike, due to it’s prime location and panoramic view of the city of Miami. On April 28th, in 2009, it was listed to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. And on April 18th, 2012, the American Institute of Architects added it to the Florida Architecture: 100 Years, 100 Places list.
Abominable Ink by Fazooli 