Firms of Florida - Halff Associates, Inc.

Jacksonville, Florida
by

Capital Cascades Park, Tallahassee, FL
This park has been recognized as the centerpiece of the Capital Cascade Trail greenway project. Forming a gentle bend in the southeast corner of Tallahassee's downtown area, Cascades Park provides significant stormwater management facilities that abate the existing flooding problems along the St. Augustine Branch and provide a beautiful setting for a world-class park. The stormwater management involves a series of organically shaped ponds connected by a restored stream bed landscaped with native and "Florida-friendly" riparian vegetation to protect the stream bank from erosion and create natural habitats. The 25-acre Cascades Park functions as a "floodable" park. Its winding trails, park amenities and green infrastructure are designed around the overarching stormwater retrofit master plan, providing needed flood relief for this low-lying section of Florida's capital city. The stormwater plan encompasses the drainage basin north of the park site and the St. Augustine Branch, which runs through the park for a total contributing drainage area of approximately 1,478 acres.

Lofts at Jefferson Station, Jacksonville, FL
Halff provided detailed landscape and hardscape design services for the second-floor outdoor courtyard space associated with the Lofts at Jefferson Station. The elevated courtyard included special paving, drainage coordination, synthetic lawn, planters, lighting and outdoor seating.

Pensacola Bay Bridge and 17th Avenue Roundabout, Escambia County, Florida

 
Halff prepared conceptual graphics and 3D modeling to depict several distinct landscape designs and themes to assist the Florida Department of Transportation with local governmental involvement on a highly visible roadway and bridge project in Pensacola, Florida. Concepts were created to highlight a new roundabout as a focal point as well as enhance the surrounding roadway, establishing a smooth visual transition into the surrounding environment. These ideas included varying levels of complexities, hardscape elements and a colorful landscape palette. The plans took into consideration the various light and shadows that the flyover presented as well as nearby visual cues brought on by tidal influences of the bay.

SR 8 (I-10) State Line Gateway and Welcome Center Landscaping, FDOT District 3, Escambia County, FL
Halff team members created detailed landscape and irrigation plans for the State Line Gateway and Welcome Center at the Florida-Alabama border near Eglin Air Force Base. Due to the project's proximity to the base, the design incorporated local culture and flair by featuring an aviation sculpture, representative of Pensacola's famous Blue Angels, in a predominate location. Using the Florida Department of Transportation's bold landscape initiative as the theme and backbone of the design, our landscape architects incorporated large swathes of flowering shrubs, wildflowers, and native grasses paired with palms, canopy and understory trees to compliment the new welcome signs. The overall design engages travelers, tourists and residents while providing a sunny welcome into Florida.

HCC Sculpture Garden, Brandon, FL
Working closely with Hillsborough Community College staff, Halff created a signature gathering space consisting of hardscape and landscape amenities. A sculptural centerpiece, fabric shade sails, site furniture, seat walls and pavers were designed and arranged to create a unique and inviting space. The design also integrates unique topographic features that have aesthetic appeal, but also support water conveyance throughout the site.

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1 / 5

Capital Cascades Park, Tallahassee, FL
This park has been recognized as the centerpiece of the Capital Cascade Trail greenway project. Forming a gentle bend in the southeast corner of Tallahassee's downtown area, Cascades Park provides significant stormwater management facilities that abate the existing flooding problems along the St. Augustine Branch and provide a beautiful setting for a world-class park. The stormwater management involves a series of organically shaped ponds connected by a restored stream bed landscaped with native and "Florida-friendly" riparian vegetation to protect the stream bank from erosion and create natural habitats. The 25-acre Cascades Park functions as a "floodable" park. Its winding trails, park amenities and green infrastructure are designed around the overarching stormwater retrofit master plan, providing needed flood relief for this low-lying section of Florida's capital city. The stormwater plan encompasses the drainage basin north of the park site and the St. Augustine Branch, which runs through the park for a total contributing drainage area of approximately 1,478 acres.

2 / 5

Lofts at Jefferson Station, Jacksonville, FL
Halff provided detailed landscape and hardscape design services for the second-floor outdoor courtyard space associated with the Lofts at Jefferson Station. The elevated courtyard included special paving, drainage coordination, synthetic lawn, planters, lighting and outdoor seating.

3 / 5

Pensacola Bay Bridge and 17th Avenue Roundabout, Escambia County, Florida
Halff prepared conceptual graphics and 3D modeling to depict several distinct landscape designs and themes to assist the Florida Department of Transportation with local governmental involvement on a highly visible roadway and bridge project in Pensacola, Florida. Concepts were created to highlight a new roundabout as a focal point as well as enhance the surrounding roadway, establishing a smooth visual transition into the surrounding environment. These ideas included varying levels of complexities, hardscape elements and a colorful landscape palette. The plans took into consideration the various light and shadows that the flyover presented as well as nearby visual cues brought on by tidal influences of the bay.

4 / 5

SR 8 (I-10) State Line Gateway and Welcome Center Landscaping, FDOT District 3, Escambia County, FL
Halff team members created detailed landscape and irrigation plans for the State Line Gateway and Welcome Center at the Florida-Alabama border near Eglin Air Force Base. Due to the project's proximity to the base, the design incorporated local culture and flair by featuring an aviation sculpture, representative of Pensacola's famous Blue Angels, in a predominate location. Using the Florida Department of Transportation's bold landscape initiative as the theme and backbone of the design, our landscape architects incorporated large swathes of flowering shrubs, wildflowers, and native grasses paired with palms, canopy and understory trees to compliment the new welcome signs. The overall design engages travelers, tourists and residents while providing a sunny welcome into Florida.

5 / 5

HCC Sculpture Garden, Brandon, FL
Working closely with Hillsborough Community College staff, Halff created a signature gathering space consisting of hardscape and landscape amenities. A sculptural centerpiece, fabric shade sails, site furniture, seat walls and pavers were designed and arranged to create a unique and inviting space. The design also integrates unique topographic features that have aesthetic appeal, but also support water conveyance throughout the site.

We are a unique regional consulting firm that provides full-service engineering, architecture and related services. We continually invest in our employees, fostering a culture of collaboration and delivering high-quality results for our clients. Our passion is providing smarter solutions with a distinctly human touch for everyone we serve. By weaving together culture, identity and space, our landscape architecture professionals continue the community planning and design legacy that our firm began more than 30 years ago. We are committed to shaping and revitalizing communities as well as generating economic growth through creative, sustainable solutions. We have 75 professionals in our planning and landscape architecture department, which spans Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Florida. The department is led by practice leader Tim Bargainer, PLA, in Austin. Florida leaders include Sherri French, PLA, in Tampa and Joe Loretta, PLA, in Jacksonville.

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.

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