The Bay: “One Park for All” in Sarasota

A compelling first phase following an unprecedented and inclusive master planning process, The Bay is the City of Sarasota’s first signature waterfront park. Located where the city’s iconic Boulevard of the Arts meets the Sarasota Bay, The Bay is a living demonstration of 21st century sustainability principles, a memorable community gateway to and on the water, and, in its craft, a loving reflection of Sarasota’s unique natural and cultural context. This 10-acre park brings together active, changing spaces for Sarasota’s diverse community, regional trail and mobility connections, and intimate places of deep nature immersion within the City.

The Bay is the City of Sarasota’s first signature waterfront park and a gateway to its expansive bay. Conceived as an active, sustainable gathering place for Sarasota’s diverse community, the park is a model of environmental stewardship, a highly-anticipated realization of a community-driven vision, and a well-crafted expression of Sarasota’s heritage. The Bay is a legacy destination now, and for many generations to come.

A Green and Blue Oasis Every feature of The Bay is designed with a sensitivity to environmental processes and sustainability. The design team transformed the pre-construction condition, a relentlessly impervious parking lot, into an ecological oasis. Early inventory and analysis determined baseline metrics against which improvements could be measured and impact goals established and exceeded.

The realized design delivers innovation across various site systems. Not only do the rain gardens, denitrification trenches, and large-scale infrastructure, alike, capture, hold, and treat water locally, but they also work together to treat over 70 million gallons of stormwater that passes through this site annually from off-site. The team protected, moved or otherwise enhanced dozens of large trees in the work, providing continuity and nourishing a sense of place; extensive native plantings and ecological restoration expand their impact.

A Community-Driven Place A series of community-driven principles and extensive community input on design strategies provided the design team with consistent needs, aspirations and goals that served as touchpoints through every phase of the project. In addition to the thousands of points of contact throughout the public design process, the design team actively engaged with various focus groups and local experts to review and provide feedback on the design, ensuring that a great diversity of lived experiences would be reflected in the realized park.

To meet a wide array of needs, the park design provides a framework of spaces – some flexible, while some more fixed in program offerings. These include a recreational mangrove walk, a shade structure and concessions pavilion, a large-scale events and performance lawn, a playful beach and living shoreline, a sculptural play structure, and an intimate performance green that creates a sense of community. Multi-modal paths allow for discovery and adventure while introducing visitors to more intimate, nature-immersed places of respite.

Uniquely Sarasota The Bay is designed in material expression, craft, and “vibe” to reflect the unique natural and cultural character of Sarasota. A tropical beachfront community with a rich history of Modernist architecture, Sarasota is characterized by lush vegetation; a lovely contrast of sleek precast concrete and sandy, shelly surfaces; and a refined ruggedness appropriate for an overheated, coastal environment. The site provides access to one of Sarasota's most iconic experiences – the viewing of the fantastical and explosive sky at sunset.

The project leans into a Sarasota-driven palette that includes etched wood decking, elegant precast elements, a casual crushed coquina surface, oolite elements on nature-engaged edges, and sculptural metal structures. The project’s unique Mangrove Walk is made of a rubberized surface, bringing a warmth that resonates with natural stone and sand elements while also providing a signature fitness circuit for a wide range of people.

• Dix.Hite + Partners - Local Landscape Architect
• Jon F. Swift Construction / HASKELL - Contractor
• Cummins Cederberg Inc - Environmental Consulting and Permitting
• Horton Lees Brogden Lighting - Lighting Designers
• HR&A Advisors - Economics and Governance
• Kimley-Horn and Associates - Civil Engineers, Local Landscape and Permitting
• Moffatt & Nichol - Coastal Engineering
• Sasaki Associates - Civil Engineering and Permitting
• Sweet Sparkman Architects - Architecture
• Studio Ummo - Environmental Graphics
• Zaragunda Inc. - Programming
• Stutler Strategies - Owner's Representative
• Monstrum - Play Designers
• Engineering Matrix, Inc. - Systems Engineer
• Wilhelm Brothers - Landscape Contractor
• Snell Engineering - Structural Engineer
• Dewberry - Site Surveyor
• Edgewater Resources - Waterside Surveyor
• GeoPoint Surveying - Surveyor
• Fishman and Associates - Food Service Consultant
• Novum Structures - Specialty Engineering
• Urban Conga - Custom Furnishings Design
• Eamonn Hutton - Professional Landscape Architect
• Estello Raganit, ASLA - Associate Landscape Architect
• Gina Ford, FASLA - Principal & Founder
• Matthew Macchietto, ASLA - Professional Landscape Architect
• Susannah Ross, ASLA - Director, Landscape Architect
• Tatyana Moscicki-Tsapley - Professional Landscape Architect
• Xi Yang, ASLA - Senior Landscape Architect
• Chris Clanfaglione, ASLA - Professional Landscape Architect

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