This unique blending of architecture and landscape architecture has created an integrated site fulfilling the Owner’s mission statement with gardens that address the functional, mental, and health philosophy of this preventive health care campus. With early planning input, the Landscape Architect was an integral part of the transition of this project. With an awkwardly shaped existing parcel, roadway re-alignments through a city-driven process created a very workable site. Working closely with the civil engineer, the required storm water ponds were used as features to enhance the arrival and provide diversity within the landscape. To meet the Architect’s desire to integrate the building with the landscape, gardens were designed as extensions of the interior functions. Whether growing edibles for the in-house café or providing extended views from the interior, the landscape has become an extension of the building in both form and spirit.

The Modernist Garden had the honor of being the grand entrance to the New York Botanical Garden’s largest botanical exhibition ever, Brazilian Modern: The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx. The exhibition, at the edge of New York’s concrete jungle, highlighted the important contributions of this groundbreaking figure to landscape architecture, art, conservation, and culture. Burle Marx had a larger-than-life presence, loved plants, and harnessed the beauty of plants to make a case for their cultural significance and their conservation. The New York Botanical Garden's Conservatory Lawn was boldly transformed into a verdant nirvana and multisensory, immersive experience. The landscape architect integrated Burle Marx’s signature design motifs in an original, archetypal “Burle Marx” design. More than 244,000 visitors experienced the Modernist Garden through the lens of one of Burle Marx’s most ardent fans, from June through September 2019.

Canals are fundamental lifelines in South Florida, yet these man-made waterways are often overlooked and forgotten. While effectively draining water away to this day and providing dry land for new developments, the canal system is environmentally destructive and lacks ecological awareness. The vision of this project is to reclaim and re-imagine the purposes of this underutilized extensive civil infrastructure network. We propose a comprehensive regional initiative to transform South Florida’s canal system and expand it towards regeneration, remediation, and justice through three core principles: RESTORE the ecological health through re-introduction of nature into the waterways using living edges and making them more akin to flowing rivers. RECONNECT the inhabitants of the region to their native landscape, as well as their local context through esplanades, floating boardwalks, and community focused infrastructure. REPLENISH the reach and role of nature in the region through the cleansing of water, providing habitats for local fauna and flora to thrive.

In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico— an environmental disaster known as the worst in the nation’s history. British Petroleum paid $17 billion to fund restoration and land protection throughout the Gulf region. A portion of this funding was responsible for the creation of Captain Leonard Destin Park. Before the park, the area lacked public entry for residents to access water, play, or socialize on the waterfront. This park includes a boardwalk, paddle-craft launch, fishing pier, playground, splash pad feature, and beach access. The vision for the park preserves and protects the natural features of the site, including the existing heron rookery, while embracing the historical significance as Captain Leonard Destin’s homestead and providing resilient solutions. Nestled in the residential fabric of Destin, Florida, the park represents a lifestyle that revolves around access to the Choctawhatchee Bay. Materials are familiar while the patterns and spaces reflect the rhythm of tidal currents. The park design translates the historic and natural features into a contemporary environment for social gathering.

Historic development patterns in Sarasota prioritized private development of the Bay’s shoreline, limiting access to the Bay to the broader community. Despite its extensive shoreline, the community lacks open space or a vital waterfront park. Graced with magnificent sunsets, expansive views of the Sarasota Bay, and rich layers of cultural history, 53-acres of publicly owned land in Sarasota offer an extraordinary opportunity to deliver a vital new place on the waterfront. This site is the subject of a year-long master plan driven by the Sarasota Bay Park Conservancy and the master planning team. The Sarasota Bayfront Master Plan lays the groundwork to transform this city-owned site on the stunning “Cultural Coast” of Florida into a more inclusive and welcoming community waterfront destination. The project delivers a long-term master plan to guide future improvements to the valuable site—establishing a cultural and economic legacy for the region while ensuring open, public access to the Bayfront. The master plan led to immediate change, with multiple phases under construction now, each showcasing innovative and replicable strategies for waterfront development.

The project Sacred Waters focuses on how water harvesting paradigms in the city of Bengaluru can reconnect people to meaning and cultural place making. Bengaluru is the third largest city in India, with a population of 12 million. Once known as the city of lakes has lost more than 70% of its lakes in the last 60 years due to urbanization causing stress on water sources and leading to shortage of fresh water supply for the city’s needs. This project focuses on three big moves to COLLECT, CULTIVATE and CELEBRATE water, the design prototype is based on sacred notions of water to reduce dependency on potable systems. In Indian culture water is worshipped and celebrated, aiding to create awareness amongst people to harvest rainwater contributing to meet the city’s demands of fresh water and coherent living. The primary design elements include: collecting rainwater by connecting all water bodies, cultivate by recharging groundwater through eco friendly agriculture practices, treatment wetlands to cleanse stormwater runoff and celebrate by engaging people to reconnect to ecology, water and culture.

The City of Miami Beach is witnessing first-hand the effects of climate change: sea level rise, saltwater intrusion, flooding, king tides, and extreme storm events. Trees have been proven to be one of the most effective tools for mitigating the effects of climate change when properly planned for and appropriately maintained. To increase community satisfaction, and to ensure the City has a healthy and well-managed urban forest, the City has a multitiered approach to tree canopy expansion. The cornerstone of this approach is the City of Miami Beach Urban Forestry Master Plan (UFMP) which will serve as a guiding document that establishes best management practices for developing and maintaining a healthy and sustainable urban tree canopy. The multi-disciplinary team provides an adaptive management approach that evaluates the existing tree canopy and provides best management practices for growing a healthy urban forest.

The Spotlight Workshop Series is a collaborative project led by students and professional alumni to share their unique landscape architecture talents using virtual modalities. All of the events are held on Zoom. Our team of workshop leaders developed an array of topics based on direct feedback from landscape architecture students on skills they would like to exercise and learn more about outside of class. Our two main goals are to create a virtual version of our collaborative studio culture during remote learning, and to use open-source, open-access education as a tool for spreading greater awareness across disciplines to the many facets of our field. Throughout the series, we discovered the strength of collaboration with our peers and across disciplines to share knowledge across both disciplinary and physical boundaries. The workshops have had an unexpected reach, to the extent of international attendance, due to increased accessibility with the internet. Our group effort now serves as a small library of free and public landscape architecture education materials for all to access and enjoy.

This new Florida subtropical garden was the result of concerted design efforts including architecture, interior design and landscape architecture which contributed to various seamless design ‘moments’ between the interior and exterior of the home. Utilizing the existing trees into the landscape design helped create a variety of other sub-spaces for the homeowners and guests to enjoy in what seems to be a mature and already established home site. Native and Florida Friendly trees, shrubs, groundcovers, palms and orchids were used throughout the ground floor and also on two green roofs on the second floor. With an overall focus to renovate the site we feel this project highlights key landscape design ideas such as tree preservation and carbon storage, native planting design, natural hardscape elements, organic stormwater storage and pollinator/local fauna/biotic support.

Moments of respite in large global cities like Miami are treasured because they are rare. In an urban environment every outdoor space matters. At AMLI MidTown Miami landscape architecture helped create a lush, mid-density neighborhood, spanning three city blocks in the heart of Miami. It is an urban transformation of a former rail yard logistics hub made more powerful through landscape architecture. In the era of COVID-19 restrictions perhaps forever changing urban life, AMLI MidTown is a new expansive environment for living in the middle of Miami.

The Casa Bahia garden sits on one of the most idyllic waterfront lots in the historic Camp Biscayne community of Coconut Grove, Florida. The 13,483 sq. ft. “tropical modern” home appears to float above the land in homage to the expansive waters of Sailboat Bay. Both the north and east sides of the property provide sensational water views and a full vista of downtown Miami’s skyline. Key elements of the landscape design include a beach-chic plant palette primed for the occasional saltwater inundation from high tides and hurricanes, and a minimal hardscape plan with enhanced water activation via an alfresco dining deck and improved walkways that circumnavigate the abundant outdoor living spaces. The landscape architect preserved a magnificent green buttonwood tree and incorporated the client’s rare palm collection of Corypha umbraculifera, Copernicia gigas, Copernicia fallense, and Copernicia baileyana.

This spectacular 2.9-acre site boasts over 400 feet of lakefront on one of the finger lakes in the Snapper Creek Lakes community in Miami, Florida. Zen Den, aptly named four years after the project’s inception, was influenced by the clients’ affinity for the open-air pavilions, placid water gardens, and reflective ponds of the Amanyara in the Turks and Caicos. The garden design focused on configuring topography to maximize connectivity to the water’s edge while protecting and celebrating three-dozen mature oak trees that have long called this land home. The result is a garden and a house that speak the same language. There are shaded, meditative places as well as large expanses of lawn for 500-person fundraising events. A secluded beach area is ideal for kayak launching before or after an impromptu ping-pong match beneath the shade of oak trees.

Inspired by Shanwei’s marine culture and the storyline of ‘The Gem of the Sea’ – a metaphor for the site’s rebirth and sustainable development, the Landscape Architect re-envisioned five miles of underutilized industrial waterfront in support of the City’s vision of transforming the once-blighted working waterfront into a welcoming tourism destination while preserving natural resources and celebrating the local culture. Faced with overcoming social, environmental and economic challenges, the Landscape Architect crafted a master plan that spans throughout the City’s five districts, in which includes producing a resilient, adaptive green infrastructure that protects the beach environment and reduces the impact of future storm and flood events. Once the project comes to life, more than 54.3 hectares of dunes and native plants will be added to the site, acting as effective coastal reliance barriers for the uplands. The proposed multi-modal transportation system will serve 150,000 residents and visitors within the downtown area. The plan provides a transformative and adaptable guide addressing climate change and coastal resilience that can remain flexible to leverage development opportunities as they arise.

A heightened degree of resourceful elegance defines the unique character of this urban landscape renovation project. The engine of the design involves the careful grafting of an existing plaza with a series of simple, yet bold landscape interventions. Constructed almost 25 years ago, the existing plaza is hot and unwelcoming. It is difficult to locate the building entrance or its limited and undistinguished ADA access. The design replaces 13 sets of stairs with a series of welcoming accessible paths that crisscross a leafy and shaded native hammock, framing outdoor seating for the new restaurant. A vibrant array of adaptive ecologies establishes a native pocket hammock and allows for natural storm water cleaning and detention capabilities. Two lush volumes of plant material clearly identify the off-center building entrance and frames a new entry plaza. This unique garden plaza functions both as new branding for the building and also makes a symbolic statement in support of the value of beautiful, comfortable, and equitable public spaces for people.

Serving as a Corporate Think Tank Retreat, the low-impact development of Hassel Island preserves the natural terrain, human cohesion with nature, and historic connections to its Caribbean island roots in the US Virgin Islands. At the same time, Hassel Island prioritizes sustainability within this remote region through restorative planning and design strategies that regenerate natural conditions and minimize environmental impact. With no preconceived notions on how the property could be developed, usable spaces that valued the topography and natural systems morphosized as part of a design progression with a self-sustaining, energy independent outcome. Establishing a framework from which to measure design solutions, the design provides holistic alternatives without sacrificing key hospitality features such as indoor/outdoor transitional rooms, open-air structures, improved guest access, and convenience to surrounding trails, ocean sands, ancient ruins, and other activities and points of interest. In conceptual planning and design, this project stretched the traditional boundaries of the profession as the landscape architecture was the only consultant helping to choregraph the full experience.

DC Alexander Park in Fort Lauderdale Beach is the result of careful and thorough analysis of the site, its context - historic and present, its users, and the needs of the community. The team provided resilient infrastructure and public realm improvements through a revealing process of careful examination and analysis. The current parking lot was reimagined as a vibrant public space for locals and visitors alike. Utilizing a trans-disciplinary approach to design, a broad spectrum of opportunities and constraints were subject to discussions and research. The collective team sought the most creative and environmentally conscientious solution. The team observed and analyzed shoreline habitat and behavior while considering the unknown and inevitable – sea level rise and climate change. The project is a case study in practical and creative applications of storm water mitigation practices resulting in a design that reflects and embraces the social and economic needs of the local community. DC Alexander Park balances ‘design for people’ and ‘design with nature’ and is a testament to the value of comprehensive research, exploration, and analysis phases.

Previously in poor condition, the Himmarshee Streetscape, located in Downtown Fort Lauderdale, was identified as a vacant street dominated by unsafe experiences and deteriorating public space. In 2018, Fort Lauderdale opened the new Brightline Station – creating a regional connection to the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Miami, as well as future connections to the other major cities, through high-speed, public transportation. At the intersection of visual and physical connections between the Brightline Station, the Arts and Entertainment (A&E) and Historic Districts, Downtown FTL, and the Riverwalk, the project emerged as the missing link to create a connected downtown network that can activate the neighboring districts and improve economic vitality. The design team’s approach to this project is one that is inherently about urban design and space-creation, not simply a matter of beautification. The corridor embeds the environment with value to take advantage of inherent, flexible opportunities. The end product, in turn, will animate socialization, celebrate the culture of place and history, and provide for a multi-functional framework by capturing the human experience.

CGA’s initial task was to complete the design as it was originally conceived - building a bridge exclusively for use by pedestrians and emergency-response vehicles to facilitate the connection of the western part of the City without the need of traversing Collins Ave. However, the design team knew there was the desire for something more than just a bridge – it could be a landmark. This is when the City engaged CGA to help with solution-building. The team elevated the project from a vehicular bridge to a community asset, thus increasing its worth to the community beyond just a mode of transportation and into a destination. As a result, the project was re-understood as a place first, a pedestrian amenity second, and an emergency access last. The design was refocused to create a park setting with a strong branding strategy. It has accomplished making the community much safer and has bridged the opportunity to improve the quality-of-life.

The transformative Clematis Street Streetscape project has changed West Palm Beach’s main street into a pedestrian-forward, curbless destination street. Clematis Street’s design vastly enlarged pedestrian spaces, significantly narrowed drive lanes, and eliminated curbs to create a true shared street emphasizing pedestrian movement and offering shaded spaces to congregate, dine, and enjoy. A one-block first phase allowed for a test of real-world, daily use ‘data’ to use in implementing refinements in future phases. Construction of the third and final phase of this project was completed in January 2021. All phases were conceptualized, designed, and constructed within one calendar year each.