The largest performing-arts center in Florida (and second largest, by area, in the USA) is Miami’s beautiful, beloved baby. It is also a major component of downtown’s urban equivalent of a facelift and several regimens of Botox. Designed by Cesar Pelli (the man who brought you Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers), the center has two main components: the Ziff Ballet Opera House and Knight Concert Hall, which span both sides of Biscayne Blvd. The venues are connected by a thin, elegant pedestrian bridge, while inside the theaters there’s a sense of ocean and land sculpted by wind; the rounded balconies rise up in spirals that resemble a sliced-open seashell. If you have the chance, catch a show here; the interior alone is easily a highlight of any Miami trip.
