Firms of Florida - Dix.Hite
Orlando, Florida
The firm led the visioning, master planning, and overall design of the 2,500-acre Starkey Ranch community including over 20 miles of trails and four community parks that include pools, playgrounds, a community garden, and other amenities. Dix.Hite spearheaded a vision that provides stewardship of the land and pays homage to the land's history. Named in 2016 by the NAHB as one of the country's top six master-planned communities, Starkey Ranch includes residential housing and a 90-acre district park and a K-8 school.
Dix.Hite partnered with the City of Oviedo and a private developer to create the walkable, multi-use town center. The firm led the master planning, established the aesthetic, and designed the community park. The park includes a Veteran's Memorial, dog park, playground, splash pad, concessions, boardwalk, amphitheater and event lawn. Inspired by the agricultural history of Oviedo, Dix.Hite introduced native plant materials and bold sculptural patterns in the signage and hardscape to connect park goers to the cultural, historical, and natural environment.
Dix.Hite led the design efforts alongside the onePULSE Foundation to implement an interim memorial while the permanent memorial was being developed. All services were donated by Dix.Hite. The site includes an illuminated message wall with a series of viewing portals offering views of the nightclub, native plantings, new lighting, an offering wall for memorial objects, and hand-crafted benches. The design is inspired by patterns of use which were observed on the site prior to construction and the vibrancy of the original nightclub. Directing the flow of movement, using artful lighting, focusing interaction and addressing the ground plane were key elements to the design approach.
This project is a mixed-use, multi-family residential development in the Channelside district of Tampa. Dix.Hite communicated the architectural style of the buildings, designed the streetscape, amenity courtyards, pool deck, linear park, artwalk, and trail. The Pierhouse has helped spur an economic revival in the Channel District of Tampa by providing walkable urban housing for young professionals and enhancing and activating the public realm. Dix.Hite led the design of the 6.3-acre site with thoughtful site planning, conceptual design of private courtyards, the streetscape and entry experience, and the urban park and trail. Collaboration between the design team, the developer, and the City of Tampa resulted in a re-imagining of the public right-of-way into a 1/2-acre public park and art walk that provides a pedestrian connection to adjacent retail, residential, and commercial properties. The park, the private amenities, and the context-sensitive materials and details make the Pierhouse a high-quality, walkable mixed-use development that helps define the District's character.
Since 1996, Orlando based Dix.Hite has been providing holistic landscape architecture, urban design and land planning services throughout the United States and internationally. The award-winning and woman-owned firm connects people and place through engaging design, making exterior spaces - and the experiences within those spaces - flow. The firm specializes in sustainable mixed-use projects, transportation corridors, streetscapes, parks, open space, public-realm design and multi-family development. Our team helps clients develop a vision for their project through implementation. We work to understand a site's culture and history, and ensure the emerging design reflects and honors that context. We excel at telling the project's story through visioning and community design, master planning, site planning, trail, bicycle and pedestrian design, community engagement, visual communications, color design, logo and identity development, environmental graphics, public art plans and construction documents and observation.
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.
