Photography Credit: Rob Williamson

 

The Center for the Arts Plaza links two of the art's most enjoyed buildings in St. Petersburg. It connects the Salvador Dali Museum and the Duke Center for the Performing Arts - The Mahaffey Theater. Opened in 2011, with the new Dali Museum, the plaza brings a simple yet fresh approach to these art destinations. Situated across the street from Tampa Bay, the area attracts in many to sit and watch boats glide by. Hunter Booth with Booth Design Group (formally Graham Booth Landscape Architects at the time of the project) worked as one of the landscape architects for the Dali Museum construction, creating a stronger sense of architectural continuity when he designed the Arts Plaza.

This project took place in the pedestrian-open-space connection between two of the most recognizable cultural centers in downtown St. Petersburg, FL. The plaza is nestled between the Dali Museum and the Mahaffey Theater and adds an inviting multifunctional space that is used for festivals, the St Petersburg Grand Prix and many other programmed and non-programmed events. The space, with its dramatic setting between two architectural icons, sits on the South Yacht basin overlooking Tampa Bay and the small Albert Whitted Airport. The space consists of an organized, shaded crepe myrtle bosque, a large open lawn space for events, as well as terraced seating areas that rise from street level. Cross connections and spill out space from the Mahaffey Theater and Dali Museum give it the ultimate viable flexibility. A seamless continuity of hardscape features from both the contrasting architectural building types encapsulating the project was key in the integration of the space to the surroundings. Built-in power for civic events and concerts was considered as part of the design along with reinforced lawn areas that would be able to handle various functions, namely the St Pete Grand Prix.

Certain challenges presented themselves within this project including the necessity to relocate large trees. In order to get immediate shade, large crepe myrtles from within the city's facilities were relocated to the site. The trees installed were approximately 20' tall multi-stemmed specimens. Other hurdles involved creating a design for all the potential civic programmed features that might occur in the space while accounting for the varying magnitudes of the diverse events. In the design there had to be certainty that the plaza functioned for a wide range of crowd sizes at different times of day. In the creation of the terracing steps and seating area, the design called for an inviting space that was horizontally lighted and not obtrusive from cars along Bayshore Dr. In this section, two functions were accomplished through the implementation of breaks in the terraces as they housed inconspicuous lights which were shielded from the road while also active as skate deterrents.