Florida Firms and Projects

David Conner & Associates

What Sets Them Apart

David Conner is the principal owner with over 21 years of experience. The firm itself was founded in 1997. It has the following personnel: three landscape architects, two administrative workers, one construction manager and one marketing/public relations professional.

Further, we believe that our designs must incorporate the human need for organization. This is represented through the proper placement of structures, walkways, seating, gathering areas, and plantings. Site features such as pools, sculpture and furnishings complete the process. Finally, we desire to provide our clients with projects that are sustainable and that gracefully mature into beautiful settings for the future.

Cancer Survivors Plaza

Cancer Survivors Plaza

One of 15 memorials to the survivors and sufferers of cancer, David Conner & Associates identified the commonality that art and landscape architecture share to communicate meaningful ideas through landscape forms. Our goal with this endeavor was to carefully integrate forms and materials that would potentially excite our senses and stimulate emotion: to enable visitors to the park to fully understand how cancer has affected so many families. The plaza carries you on a journey beginning with a raised sculpture platform, ?EUR??,,????'??Understanding Cancer.?EUR??,,????'?? The central platform is a 13-foot cone-shaped monument encircled by a 24-foot suspended aluminum ?EUR??,,????'??Halo?EUR??,,????'?? supporting 48 individual pieces of artwork created by children with cancer. The journey continues along the Road to Recovery, where four massive grass ?EUR??,,????'??waves?EUR??,,????'?? tower before you to represent the challenges in overcoming cancer. The waves range in height from 4-15 feet and appear graceful and inviting from a distance. However, when you get closer, you begin to realize that their steep face cannot easily be scaled and overcoming them will require courage, faith, and stamina. At the end of the Road to Recovery you will find the heart of the project: a large outdoor room where life is celebrated. Here, a 65-foot sail sculpture in the midst of a flower garden stands as a metaphor for an individual life on this journey. This 120-foot circular ?EUR??,,????'??Life Celebration Plaza?EUR??,,????'?? is surrounded by 14 plaques that inspire visitors with the spirit of survival.

Davis Conference Center Park

Davis Conference Center Park

Davis Conference Center Park represents the first significant effort on the part of MacDill Air Force Base to transform a valuable but under-utilized waterfront location into an accessible environmentally sustainable Waterfront Park. The park offers its numerous dignitaries, visitors, and base residents an aesthetically appealing location to exercise, meet friends, picnic with families, enjoy searching for shells, or for relaxing while fishing for some of the many varieties of game fish located along the shoreline. The park?EUR??,,????'???s design incorporates natural and recycled materials to create a self-sustaining landscape. Native grasses were planted to re-establish the erosion-prone coastal shoreline. Lime rock boulders replaced a dilapidated seawall to stabilize the shoreline by the fishing pier and boat basin. The fishing piers have been replaced with new seating, lighting, and handicap fishing access. At the termination of the northern pier, an open trellis pavilion provides a gathering place for relaxation on the water. Winding shell rock paths gracefully lead to more remote and quieter portions of the project. The 10-foot- wide jogging path traversing the site utilizes recycled rubber as a cushion for running along a breath-taking horizon. Rarely does a project combine the benefits of shoreline restoration, military recreation, and sustainable construction in a more beautiful way!

Munroe Regional Medical Center

Munroe Regional Medical Center

Munroe Regional Medical Center

The landscape design for this large regional hospital needed to provide a peaceful escape from the worries of health challenges for the patient, the visitor, and the doctor. The design solution developed by David Conner & Associates features a tranquil stream that wraps around the building and deliberately interacts with walkways and outdoor seating. Enormous rock formations create walls and crevices where rushing sounds draw your attention to a gazing pool below. The lush waterfall welcomes visitors to a soothing environment and offers a visual and mental escape for passers by. Colors, textures, and sounds blend together to provide beautiful views from doctors?EUR??,,????'??? offices as well as staff dining areas. This is not your ordinary hospital entrance!

Private Residence

Private Residence

Private Residence, Tampa, Fla.

The landscape architectural design for this home was inspired by the desire to create a distinguished outdoor environment. This highly visible residence is nestled along a prominent South Tampa roadway boasting one of the most amazing sunrise views of the Tampa skyline. Without a backyard, the front lawn became an inviting setting in which to interact. Two bluestone framed terrace gardens are woven into the community through the careful placement of two unique pieces of artwork. Stainless steel chairs and a side table designed by local artist Dino Kotopolis offer relaxing views of Tampa Bay and the distant cityscape. East of the home, a secret garden features a refined fountain sculpture where three lighted etched glass globes created by renowned artist Duncan McClelland are suspended on a table of black granite as though they were carefully placed on a mirror, while water rushes continuously through the globes and over the sides of the black precipice. Gas light poles instill a park setting and lush plantings of azaleas, orchids, gardenias, and perennials provide a low mass outline for day or night outdoor enjoyment.

David Conner is the principal owner with over 21 years of experience. The firm itself was founded in 1997. It has the following personnel: three landscape architects, two administrative workers, one construction manager and one marketing/public relations professional.

Recent Project Awards:

Davis Conference Center Park – 2005 Native Plant Society ?EUR??,,????'???2nd place, Institutional Category 2005 United States Air Force Design Awards, Honor Award, Landscape Design Category.

Cancer Survivors Park – 2005 Hillsborough County Planning Commission Community Design Award, Award of Excellence, Environmental Project (Recreation, outdoor space and natural environment projects),2005 ASLA Florida Chapter, Award of Honor.