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2013 Award of Merit - City of Winter Garden Market Pavilion and Park
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Project Category: Commercial
Project Name: City of Winter Garden Market Pavilion and Park
Project Location: Winter Garden, FL 34787
Date of Completion: Summer 2011
Landscape Architect: Foster Conant & Associates, Inc., René Ramos
Owner: City of Winter Garden
Landscape Contractor: Integrity First Landscaping
The city of Winter Garden, FL is a thriving revitalized community on the western side of Orlando. The town’s heritage grew from the citrus industry and displays a well-defined architectural character. The revitalization of the community began with a rails to trails system, which followed the tracks through the center of town. The missing component of the downtown area was a well-defined public gathering place and open space park. The landscape architects were selected by the city to convert an old commercial/industrial site in downtown to a public space. A gathering place for weekend farmer’s market needed a permanent home as well as a community area to gather for other festivals. The city also wanted to incorporate an interactive water feature into their park to draw people to the state.
The original site held an old gas station fronting the city’s main street adjacent to the rails to trails system. Due to some site issues, this part of the property needed to be elevated. The landscape architects designed an interactive, water feature park elevated with a brick stem wall. The brick used was common to the downtown architectural vernacular. Across the street to the south, a large open pavilion was designed to accommodate multiple uses. Also incorporated into the pavilion were public restrooms that served both the festival uses and the interactive water feature. The adjacent streets were repaved using reclaimed bricks. The parking lots fronting the marketplace and area under the pavilion were paved in brick to eliminate the clear demarcation of parking. During a major event the pavilion parking lot and adjacent street become pedestrian-friendly and provide ample downtown public gathering.
At the rear
of the space, several residential lots cut through and connect into the
neighborhoods. These lots were
originally used for mechanical equipment storage and were very unsightly. The new open space is planted with Zoysia
grass and is used by the local residents for open lawn play.
Credits:
Principal in Charge: Richard Conant, FASLA,Foster Conant & Associates, Inc.
Irrigation Design Consultant: Larry Spade,Spade Irrigation Design
Fountain Designer: Joel Wolcott,Freeport Fountains
Architect: Tim McNicholas,C.T. Hsu Architects
Owner: Mike Bollhoefer,City of Winter Garden
General Contractor: Great Southern Contractors