Miami is home to a vibrant art community, a constellation of important private collections and several quality art venues. As a downtown, public museum building, the new MAM will help consolidate the dynamism that these separate entities have generated and channel it toward an ever-broader audience. It will be a vital public space for cultural exchange, both within the community and beyond. Sensitive to the city's need for public green space, the new MAM building is designed to extend the park into the museum site by means of a shaded outdoor terrace accessible to all visitors, not just those who continue on into the museum itself. Built into the design are options for future growth to occur within the building's footprint, thus allowing incremental expansion of the galleries without diminishing the amount of surrounding green space.