Hays Landscape Architecture Studio, St. Clairsville, Ohio Gabe Hays, principal of Hays Landscape Architecture, founded the company in 1997 in his hometown of St. Clairsville, Ohio. The company's services include land use and master planning, site development and construction documentation, bidding and construction services, and graphic design. It has designed commercial, residential, institutional, educational and institutional projects. The staff at Hays Landscape includes two landscape architects, a business director and an office administrator.

Memorial Garden at Liza's Place, Wheeling, W. Va.
Hays Landscape designed the memorial garden at Liza's Place as a direct extension of the comforting atmosphere that comes from the Valley Hospice. The garden is a place of healing, contemplation and celebration of life. A shallow stream runs alongside a meandering brick walkway that guides pedestrians through the intimate garden scenery. Water that bubbles up from a spring under a millstone is the stream's source. At one point in the path, walkers will encounter a large stone obstacle, representing "adversities in life and the paths we take." Farther on, the winding path straightens out and bridges the stream. Then walkers will encounter a spot called the "Life Release Circle." This open space showcases two Tamarisk trees that frame a view of wildflowers and a forested valley beyond. At various spots in the garden are four areas tucked behind raised mounds, tall grasses and boulders. Each area has a different theme: contemplation, meditation, escape and consoling. Valley Hospice opened Liza's Place Care Center South, the area's first free-standing hospice facility, in about 2009. The facility was named after Wheeling native Liza Hess Hogan Gebhardt.

 

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens' 2014 Spring Show, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Phipps Conservatory selected Hays Landscape to design its 2014 Spring Flower Show. Hays, along with the Phipps' exhibit committee, looked at various design themes. Gabe Hays and his project manager presented a theme that celebrated the many genres of music. Each genre was showcased in one of the eight conservatory rooms at the Phipps Conservatory. Over the course of several months, the Hays' team presented a series of progress plans from the initial schematic to final construction documents. Visitors enjoyed an array of planting schemes that were extensions of the themed music that played in each room. Hays Landscape has also been selected to design the 2016 Spring Flower Show.

Seven Springs Mountain Resort entrance, Champion, Pa.
As one of several projects at Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Hays Landscape revamped the entrance to the popular tourist and ski resort. The renovation included a new fountain, walls and signs made of stone, and native plantings. It is now the most-photographed summer site at Seven Springs. The final phase of this project will be completed along a highway recently built that is near the entrance. Hayes also completed designs for the resort's mountain trail system, a cottage site plan, golf course clubhouse, Mother Earth Green Home site plan, ADA assessments, restaurant patios, a court and lawn games area, and a wedding garden.

Wheeling Heritage Port, Wheeling, W. Va.
Hays Landscape was selected in 2004 by the Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation to complete the final phase of the waterfront renovatiom in Wheeling, W. Va. It included an Ohio River overlook, bike trails and promenade walk extension, seat walls, restoration of a historic park space, a public restroom and storage building with a rooftop plaza, ramps for ADA accessibility to an existing amphitheater, sidewalks, a railroad design interpretation, a statute area for an area VIP, significant utility infrastructure for festivals, and a grove dedicated to the memory of a local dignitary. Construction documents were crafted to carefully blend all design elements with an existing amphitheater and the Wheeling Heritage Port. Brick patterns forming railroad boxcars in a sidewalk and B&O Depot granite blocks were used to interpret Wheeling's railroad history. UAW union leader Walter Reuther's statue and interpretative panels were added to the redesign as well.

Photos: Anna Oberla, Ohio State University

Ohio State University, Remembrance Park, Columbus, Ohio
The creation of Remembrance Park was a way for Ohio State University to honor and commemorate those who have served their country, especially OSU alumni who made the ultimate sacrifice and lost their lives in battle. The Battelle Wall of Honor and Remembrance is enclosed with a brick plaza and trees that pay tribute to the five branches of the military, as well as prisoners of war and those missing in action. Remembrance Park also serves as a green space for ROTC and Department of Athletics events, other school ceremonies and family activities.