Firms of Florida - Burns Golf and Landscape Design, LLC
Ormand Beach, Florida
For an $8 million renovation project on the Buckingham Fountain, Steve Burns was a VP of the lead design firm, the Landscape Architect, and construction administrator. This project consisted of new infrastructure, 5.5 acres of Unilock pavers to replace existing pavement, renovation of the fountain itself, and new landscaping and furnishings in the surrounding area. The project was awarded an Illinois ASLA Honor Award for Outstanding Historic Renovation and the Illinois Landscape Contractors Gold Award.
Steve Burns was the landscape architect and construction administrator for the Diversey Driving Range. The existing driving range was extremely muddy, which made mowing and even picking up balls nearly impossible in wet periods. The project involved re-grading and converting the original driving range to artificial turf, which made it maintainable almost year-round, in all weather conditions.
The layout, landscape and hardscape design for this beachfront project was completed by Burns. The area consisted of Landshark and Cocina 214 restaurants and a central plaza for outdoor events. Work was also done on the permitting for this planned development, which will allow a future use of a high-rise condominium/hotel, with shopping and restaurants on the ground floor.
While working in Chicago, Burns was the landscape architect for seven artificial turf soccer/multi-purpose fields owned by the Chicago Park District. The fields were all built with deep rock detention areas underneath, to hold heavy rains and release the water to the storm sewer system at a slower rate than what existed before the construction of the fields.
Steve Burns designed several highly respected golf courses, with very reasonable budgets, such as the Fox Meadow, in Medina, Ohio, built for just $3.4 million. Fox Meadow was selected by Eagle Golf as their 2009 Private Club of the Year and hosted the 2011 and 2012 Ohio Open. Had the course allowed walking, it would have made Golf Digest's 1996 list of "Best New Private Courses." Burn's other courses include several awarded by Golf Digest, including the Best Muny in Georgia, a Best New Affordable Public winner, a renovation that was one of the four most improved courses, and several courses rated at 4.5 stars, ranking them among roughly the top 200 public courses in the country.
The firm provides services in all areas of landscape architecture, including landscape and hardscape design, golf course design, irrigation design, land planning and permitting. Over the last several decades, Steve Burn's work includes more than a dozen award winning projects and major magazine recognitions. His work includes golf courses, residential developments, commercial and institutional projects of all types and sizes, residential landscapes, parks, playgrounds, athletic fields and complexes, skate parks, trails, a day camp, streetscapes, roadway medians, and major historic landmarks. His current work is focused mainly on landscape and hardscape projects located in Northeast and Central Florida, while golf course work can take him almost anywhere.
Editor's Note: With the ASLA annual meeting and EXPO in Miami canceled this year due to safety concerns amid the COVID-19 health pandemic, LASN still wanted to highlight the landscape architectural work of firms from the southeast region. LASN asked the firms to send us a short biographical profile, plus photography from selected projects, with a brief description of the design work for each project. We let the firms speak for themselves in their profiles and in describing the projects, although some editing was required because of space restraints and not all photography and projects could be included. Thank you, firms of Florida and Alabama for participating!
As seen in LASN magazine, September 2020.
