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Community Corner

Midtown's TSW Wins American Planning Award for World-Class Rowing Facility

Sarasota’s Nathan Benderson Park (www.worldclassrowing.com), a new 600-acre park and world-class rowing venue master planned by Atlanta’s TSW Landscape Architecture Studio (www.tsw-design.com), has won an Award of Excellence from the American Planning Association’s Florida Chapter.  The award, which recognizes outstanding planning projects in the state of Florida, will be presented during the organization’s annual conference in Orlando Sept. 10-13, 2013, where Thomas Walsh, founding principal of TSW, will participate in a panel detailing the collaborative effort that turned a former borrow pit lake into an award-winning, international rowing venue.

 

The project began when Sarasota’s business and civic leaders began exploring redevelopment ideas for a former gravel pit lake originally created to serve Sarasota-area road construction needs.  The lake, adjacent to a county park, is ideally located along Interstate 75, and near hotels, restaurants and shopping facilities that can accommodate visitors and athletes.  The surrounding parkland is large enough for additional year-round recreational amenities, as well as the facilities needed to support a flat-water rowing venue.  Finally, and most importantly, the lake itself is, in the words of Bruce Smith, coach of the U.S. National Rowing Team, “a nearly perfect, flat-water lake that offers surprising promise.”

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To begin the transformation of the vision into reality, Sarasota’s leadership turned to Thomas Walsh, founding principal of TSW and director of the firm’s Landscape Architecture Studio, and his team to create a Master Plan.  Walsh was already familiar to the rowing community since he designed the Kayak and Canoe Venue for the 1996 Summer Olympics held in and around Atlanta.

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“There are very few landscape architects who understand the technology of how water behaves,” said Smith, who also serves as executive director of Community Rowing, Inc.  “From the beginning, Tom personally visited and reviewed regattas and other courses and actively engaged the rowing community before he even put pencil to paper.  He and his team were committed to meeting all of the FISA (Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d’Aviron) criteria during the design stage so the venue could be used for competition at the highest level.”

 

Walsh says the site offers both exceptional promise and challenges.  “First, the lake is ideal for a rowing venue,” he said.  “It’s one of the largest bodies of fresh water in Sarasota County, and its size works well for rowing competitions.  The other big advantage this lake has is that it is already protected naturally from ocean breezes which can affect racers on a course.  The topography of the surrounding parkland buffers the lake, which enables conditions to be consistent year-round.”

 

As for the challenges, Walsh, and the TSW team had to create an innovative design plan to accommodate all of the support facilities and amenities needed to support a World-Class competitive venue.  They had to take into account viewing vistas, parking for cars and trailers, where to site a grandstand, restrooms, food service and more.  Plus, the City wanted the park to include additional recreational options for year-round use.

 

The natural areas surrounding the lake were not wide enough to accommodate what TSW envisioned, so the Master Plan includes an engineered island at the northeast corner of the lake where the grandstand will be built, offering a prime view of the rowing course’s finish line, along with food service and restrooms.  Boat trailer parking will be behind the grandstand, near a new, state-of-the-art boathouse.  The lake is now encircled with a landscaped 5K hiking and biking trail.  The Master Plan also includes parking for athletes and spectators, picnic areas, a volleyball court, fitness stations, water features, a butterfly garden and playground for kids.

 

Public input ensured that a myriad of active and passive park uses were incorporated in the design to support all ages and types of users, and officials predict the economic potential of this sports tourism facility could generate over $24 million per year for the region.  Through funding from federal, state, local levels, and a series of public/private partnerships, over $50 million has been utilized in the infrastructure support for the park facility.

 

“There are only a handful of top rowing venues in the country, and only one in North America that’s FISA-certified,” said Smith.  “I believe this new facility at Nathan Benderson Park has the potential to become the very best in the United States and perhaps even the world.  I think TSW captured the vision of the planning committee and enhanced it with their creativity and passion for the project.  People are going to be talking about it for a long time to come.”

 

About TSW

 

Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh & Associates (TSW) is a full-service planning, architecture and landscape architecture firm.  The award-winning Atlanta company was founded in 1990 and specializes in sustainable community design and architecture. TSW is a leader in the New Urbanist movement and employs a community planning and design process that links tradition and context with today’s cultural and environmental demands.  Sustainable design is an integral part of all TSW work, from the master plan level to the individual building components. TSW’s staff members are LEED Accredited Professionals and their designs incorporate a range of ideas for progressive energy and resource saving solutions.  www.tsw-design.com.

 





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