The primary purpose of the Las Olas Corridor Improvement Plan was to give space back to the community in a healthy, sustainable way. By consolidating three surface lots into one parking structure, almost nine and a half acres of waterfront real estate was converted into active public realm. Activation through city events, a park, waterfront promenade, and flexible open spaces now provide residents and tourists with opportunities for public engagement. Fully native gardens were planted in the park, creating a sanctuary for pollinator and animal species, while stormwater treatment was significantly improved by harvesting rainwater for public restrooms and allowing natural percolation. This project also looked outside the parcel boundaries and relocated almost 100 trees and palms to other parks and streetscapes, benefiting several districts throughout the city. From an environmental policy perspective, the dual board lighting fixtures are the first to be approved by a local environmental protection agency and a wildlife conservation agency on a timeclock, which balances public use with turtle nesting sites– bringing both communities back to Fort Lauderdale Beach.

The redevelopment of Riverplace Boulevard is a landmark achievement for downtown Jacksonville’s Southbank district. It is the constructed definition of a Complete Street. Previously oversized for vehicles but underutilized by pedestrians and cyclists, the project eliminated two traffic lanes in favor of enhanced pedestrian amenities, protected bicycle lanes, improved on-street parking, and low impact design (LID) stormwater rain gardens. Enhanced bus and transit service from Jacksonville Transit Authority (JTA) are incorporated, and underground utility enhancements completed in coordination with JEA. The project’s goal to reposition the corridor to better support new investment and diverse community needs was established by the City of Jacksonville and confirmed through inclusive community visioning sessions. The area’s residents and business owners clearly relayed their preference that the redesigned street should serve all public functions in a safe and beautiful form. The results are noteworthy, as the successful corridor establishes the Complete Streets movement in Jacksonville and validates Smart Growth America’s policy for municipal work in the First Coast region.

The design of the Courtyard Garden project is a study in the foreshadowing of details and imprinting the memory of a place. The landscape architect took advantage of the site constraints to create a dynamic and vibrant series of experiences. The compact property has a foreshortened front yard on an active neighborhood street, and while the connectivity of the location was a primary draw for the homeowners, this called for a design program centered around an oasis and carefully planned indoor-outdoor spaces. Each interior space in the house was to have a direct connection to the private gardens. The result is a project in which the interior and exterior spaces are integrally linked and define each other.

The client engaged the landscape architects to create a botanical sanctuary for her large family on two-acres in the heart of Monterey, Mexico. The resulting design incorporates many requested programmatic elements while addressing extreme grade changes, botanical interest, and privacy needs. The landscape architects used as many native plants as they could to further promote their use in the local industry. They selected many native specimen trees for their unique qualities of shade, color, and fragrance. As a result, these plants were quick to establish and required reduced supplemental irrigation. The project’s architecture and landscape architecture appear to be drawn by one hand. There is no one place where the interior, the landscape, or the architecture transitions to another designer. This brings about cohesiveness and harmony. Casa Tara Garden will only get better with age. It will soon become a legacy campus for the client’s family as they enjoy the garden for play, contemplation, and special occasions throughout the coming years.

Most of today’s playgrounds are designed around specific play equipment situated on an economically sized rubber safety surfacing. These play spaces focus on the manufactured play equipment as the beginning and end of the play experience and offer little exposure to nature. Camp Matecumbe Playground tries to tie the play experience to nature to nurture familiarity and affinity for natural places. Camp Matecumbe Playground is a nature-immersive and expansive play area with interconnected pathways that incorporate nature and natural elements into the play. The design includes extensive native planting composed in a naturalistic style with several plant species that attract wildlife. The client, Miami Dade County has used the design as a model in the development of playgrounds at various parks throughout the county. They have asked other designers to study the playground when developing their own designs. The client has also been developing a guide-book that utilizes the design ideas from this playground for use in other playgrounds.

Over the course of a year, we utilized our design process in a pro-bono effort to show the students of Dream Lake Elementary how their school curriculum translates into a real occupation and exposed them to the amazing profession of landscape architecture. We had an initial charrette to set goals and envision the dream, a discovery activity to teach site inventory and analysis, a design charrette where we sketched our plans, and many hands-on activities in between. The result is a vision plan and book that the school will use for fundraising and implementation. Having the opportunity to work with the students over a year was extremely impactful. The students and staff shared that this process helped them make better connections to the concepts they were learning in the classroom. The process empowered them to make changes to their environment, use the design process to solve everyday problems, and to work well on teams. This effort allowed us to expose young people to our profession, show its tremendous power, and give back to our community.

The Strand is a private residential resort community located along the southern shoreline of Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, where the natural elevation offers beautiful views of Cooper Jack Bay. The landscape architecture team enhanced the unique ecosystem of the site, guiding development and siting of the buildings, amenities, circulation and landscape features to accommodate and preserve the topography and sensitive natural coastal vegetation. The prominent “ironshore”- the marine limestone that is exposed to the elements along the coastline, exhibiting ample evidence of Karst process actions, containing a high density of pores and caves. Topsoil is scarce on site. “Pockets” of more dense vegetation were created within the courtyards of each of the Villas. A creative plan for soil generation and strategic placement of larger vegetation was crafted to ensure that vegetation can thrive, Core values of the project honor the spirt of the place and value authentic and respectful engagement with the landscape and environment. The team honored the objectives, creating 25 acres of beautiful landscapes that blend seamlessly with the natural vegetation and topography.

Golf courses are closing at an alarming rate, resulting in a loss of valuable open space as many of these areas are redeveloped for residential use. Rolling Hills Golf Course in Longwood, Florida, faced a similar fate. Shuttered for several years, Seminole County purchased the property. Retained by the County, the landscape architects designed a Master Plan that preserves the open space for public use and provides a variety of experiences for users. The plan focuses on community through an inclusionary design process as well as developing areas specifically designed to bring residents together. It contains environmental education components and reintroduces native plant communities, leaving the site better able to handle flooding and stormwater. It both physically and emotionally connects neighbor to neighbor and assures full inclusivity for all users. Rolling Hills Park, once completed, will forever transform the immediate area and also provide valuable recreation for regions beyond.

One Water Winter Haven is a transformative, comprehensive plan addressing the fundamental relationship between the built environment and the stewardship of our water resources in Winter Haven. This plan demonstrates a paradigm shift in how water is managed: from water as waste to water as resource. Every drop matters for the health of our economy, communities, and environment. Working with a large cross-disciplinary team, the landscape architect is leading all land use planning, policy, and physical site design elements for the One Water plan. The resulting work includes development scenarios, comprehensive plan/development code amendments, and a vision for implementing the Sapphire Necklace—a 30-plus-mile multiuse trail that intertwines a series of stormwater facilities, conservation lands, restored lakes, floodplains, and wetlands, and neighborhoods (new and old).This project is award worthy because it shows how landscape architecture is leading the charge on one of our state’s most pressing issues. Communities across Florida are or will face water scarcity in the coming years. One Water Winter Haven is the forerunner in an emergent era of Landscape Architecture.

The Court is a renovation of the original ‘Motor Court’ on the edge of downtown Seaside, Florida. After years of disuse, the renovation remakes the motel parking lot into a destination landscape that celebrates the history of Seaside and the unique coastal scrub ecosystem of the Florida panhandle. The landscape design of the hotel consists of streetscape design, café seating along scenic highway 30-A, a large central courtyard that honors the region’s endangered endemic coastal scrub forest, and a northern courtyard that doubles as a stormwater retention space planted with tupelos and native grasses. Working with local and regional providers to source field grown and endangered plant material, The Court’s landscape is defined by a mix of sand live oaks, sabal palms, saw palmettos, rusty lyonias, scrub mints, and endemic flowers; recalling a resilient native plant community that is scarcely seen due to recent development in the region. The overall effect is a lush, wild but curated garden that creates a peaceful respite that is steps away from the Gulf of Mexico and downtown Seaside.