Firms of Florida - HILLWORKS: landscape + architecture

Auburn, Alabama
by

Discovery Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
After being decommissioned as a water supply, this 37-acre reservoir spontaneously grew vegetation along the levees, allowing the basin to evolve into an ecologically unique and incredibly important stopover for birds migrating along the Atlantic Flyway. Within this rich ecological, cultural, and infrastructural history, the National Audubon Society and Philadelphia Outward Bound School joined forces to establish the Discovery Center, an urban wildlife sanctuary that provides education, research, and leadership development.

Puente Hills Landfill, Los Angeles County, California
The masterplan outlines the adaptation of this massive piece of infrastructure into much-needed public space. Not only will the landfill continue to carefully store over 130 million tons of waste, but also transform captured methane into electricity, and detain destructive leachate. However, this gigantic landmass has now been charged to host a thriving collection of novel ecologies and provide areas for public recreation. The design team assembled 12 park objectives that will guide the adaptable masterplan framework which provides design direction that revels in the continual fluctuation of this shifting terrain.

Pratt Gin, Prattville, Alabama

 
Just across the creek from downtown, the historic Pratt Gin Factory is being carefully transformed into housing. Site strategies capitalize on the industrial scale and rich patina of the complex. Massive steel columns and beams are retained, creating distinct outdoor rooms. Existing concrete slabs are carefully harvested and strategically re-introduced throughout the site as paving, edging, and retaining walls. The former rail line bisecting the site is marked with large paint stripes, and early successional plant communities are seeded to initiate a more verdant, porous, and occupiable site.

Congregation Or Hadash Synagogue Atlanta, Georgia
The initial site strategy was to transform the sea of asphalt into a dynamic, performative landscape that offers the Jewish congregation a multiplicity of functions while remembering the former uses of the site. The expanse of asphalt is perforated, allowing water to permeate the ground again. The removed asphalt is carefully extracted and reappropriated on the site as long seat walls that provide a distinction between vehicles and pedestrians.

Gravel Garden Auburn, Alabama
Giving the garden its name, a continuous ground plane of gravel extends over the entire terrace, allowing any area to shift between being plantable or walkable at any given time. Spring seeds are sown in a meticulous grid that will eventually grow up and weave together to form a series of ephemeral rooms within the terrace. Greens and chartreuses of spring methodically transform into lovely browns and grays of winter. In late winter/early spring the thicket of stalks and seed heads are removed to make way for the next iteration of the garden in the spring.

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Discovery Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
After being decommissioned as a water supply, this 37-acre reservoir spontaneously grew vegetation along the levees, allowing the basin to evolve into an ecologically unique and incredibly important stopover for birds migrating along the Atlantic Flyway. Within this rich ecological, cultural, and infrastructural history, the National Audubon Society and Philadelphia Outward Bound School joined forces to establish the Discovery Center, an urban wildlife sanctuary that provides education, research, and leadership development.

2 / 5

Puente Hills Landfill, Los Angeles County, California
The masterplan outlines the adaptation of this massive piece of infrastructure into much-needed public space. Not only will the landfill continue to carefully store over 130 million tons of waste, but also transform captured methane into electricity, and detain destructive leachate. However, this gigantic landmass has now been charged to host a thriving collection of novel ecologies and provide areas for public recreation. The design team assembled 12 park objectives that will guide the adaptable masterplan framework which provides design direction that revels in the continual fluctuation of this shifting terrain.

3 / 5

Pratt Gin, Prattville, Alabama
Just across the creek from downtown, the historic Pratt Gin Factory is being carefully transformed into housing. Site strategies capitalize on the industrial scale and rich patina of the complex. Massive steel columns and beams are retained, creating distinct outdoor rooms. Existing concrete slabs are carefully harvested and strategically re-introduced throughout the site as paving, edging, and retaining walls. The former rail line bisecting the site is marked with large paint stripes, and early successional plant communities are seeded to initiate a more verdant, porous, and occupiable site.

4 / 5

Congregation Or Hadash Synagogue Atlanta, Georgia
The initial site strategy was to transform the sea of asphalt into a dynamic, performative landscape that offers the Jewish congregation a multiplicity of functions while remembering the former uses of the site. The expanse of asphalt is perforated, allowing water to permeate the ground again. The removed asphalt is carefully extracted and reappropriated on the site as long seat walls that provide a distinction between vehicles and pedestrians.

5 / 5

Gravel Garden Auburn, Alabama
Giving the garden its name, a continuous ground plane of gravel extends over the entire terrace, allowing any area to shift between being plantable or walkable at any given time. Spring seeds are sown in a meticulous grid that will eventually grow up and weave together to form a series of ephemeral rooms within the terrace. Greens and chartreuses of spring methodically transform into lovely browns and grays of winter. In late winter/early spring the thicket of stalks and seed heads are removed to make way for the next iteration of the garden in the spring.

Since 2009, the firm has oscillated between the disciplines of architecture and landscape architecture. Grounded in the culture of the Deep South, we revel in the Southern spirit of craft, thrift, and resourcefulness. These principles emerge in two primary threads of design research: plant performance and inventive reuse. This Alabama firm benefits from the rich interaction between the design exploration of practice and the scholarly research of the university. Founding principal David Hill serves as Program Chair for the Graduate Program of Landscape Architecture at Auburn University and leads a group of four team members and one licensed Landscape Architect. The firm uses several representational tools and technology including Analog Drawings, AutoCAD, SketchUp, and Adobe Suite. Hillworks' projects have been presented nationally and internationally at conferences, symposia, and universities.

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!

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