Photo by Jacob Ogles

As efforts to envision a Bayfront cultural district in Sarasota begins in earnest, the Center for Architecture Sarasota last week brought a panel of experts in planning functional urban landscapes to discuss the delicate and very public art of creating a community treasure. Guests at the Friday event looked over exhibits of University of Florida student visions for a symphony hall on Sarasota Bay, then sat down as local and visiting experts discussed design strategies that seek to preserve environment assets while developing beloved public spaces.

Chris Reed, founding director of Stoss Landscape Urbanism in Boston, discussed the prominent and formative role landscape can play in cities. He showed slides of a West Palm Beach project that incorporated floating ponds, and a Gulf-front interstate plan with juts of green space surrounded by new neighborhoods, showing that greenery can invigorate downtown areas sometimes as much as office space. “You don’t always have to make a choice of development or landscape,” he stressed. “You can do both at the same time.”

Andrew Georgiadis, who has worked on form-based codes in Bradenton and Sarasota and today serves as president of Georgiadis Urban Design, discussed projects from Atlanta to Cairo. He noted that construction can also enhance greenery, especially in creating perimeters around recreational areas. “Park-goers crave an edge, with doors and windows that look over the park space,” he said. When areas simply get walled in, it can create a more bleak surrounding, he suggested.

Stephen Luoni, director of the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, discussed a long-term plan for the growing community of Conway, where streams through the area create a valuable natural resource at the center of many political fights. He said planners need to incorporate the same skills they have creating working urban networks, into keeping up natural environments. “Watersheds are ecosystems,” he said, “and cities are ecosystems.” A good framework for either can produce good results for a community.

Todd Sweet, a founder of Sweet Sparkman Architects in Sarasota, discussed more micro-projects, such as work renovating the pavilion on Siesta Key in a way that modernized the structure while also returning to original missions like preserving a water view when people enter. “We’re going to want to preserve views in new development on the Bayfront,” he noted. Structures here will also need to deal with threats like storm surge and sea level rise, and sustainable solutions, like a butterfly roof on the pavilion that turns rain water into toilet water, will need to be employed.

Photo by Jacob Ogles