Miami opens its 1st underwater car park

ReefLine has launched its first fully realized underwater art installation, perfectly timed for Miami Art Week 2025. Twenty life-sized concrete "cars" now rest 20 feet beneath the ocean’s surface off the coast of Miami Beach, forming part of an ambitious seven-mile underwater sculpture park and hybrid reef. Conceived by Ximena Caminos and masterplanned in collaboration with OMA / Shohei Shigematsu, this project is a bold fusion of public art and ocean conservation.



The centerpiece of this unique initiative is an installation by renowned artist Leandro Erlich, who reimagines the concept of a traffic jam — a familiar symbol of Miami Art Week — as a thriving underwater ecosystem. Erlich describes his work as both a cautionary tale and a hopeful vision: “Once carriers of pollution and speed, they now become vessels of regeneration. What once drove us away from nature becomes a stage for its return.”
Each car, weighing up to 16 tons, was crafted from marine-grade, pH-neutral concrete engineered to encourage coral growth while withstanding the harsh conditions of South Florida’s storm-prone waters. The sculptures, meticulously designed to reflect Erlich’s signature realism, were rigorously tested at the University of Miami’s SUSTAIN Laboratory to ensure they could endure hurricane-strength waves. Only after passing these trials were the pieces deployed offshore by Kearns Construction.

The installation is located 780 feet from the Miami shoreline between 4th and 5th Streets. Over the coming months, the concrete cars will be seeded with thousands of coral fragments cultivated at ReefLine’s Miami Native Coral Lab using the patented Coral Lok™ system. These resilient corals will gradually transform the "traffic jam" into a vibrant underwater forest, symbolizing nature’s reclamation of human spaces.



Above the surface, the site is marked by Andrés Reisinger’s Meditation Buoy, a large pastel-toned structure that serves both as a navigational marker and a contemplative space for swimmers and paddleboarders. Visitors can reach the location aboard co-branded BMW x SipaBoards electric paddleboards, available at ReefLine’s headquarters on 9th Street.



Throughout Miami Art Week, the Floating Marine Learning Center will anchor near the installation, offering coral restoration workshops, educational sessions, and guided discussions on art and marine conservation. Highlights include talks by artist Leandro Erlich and oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, as well as hands-on activities led by the University of Miami’s Rescue a Reef program.

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