Project Service: Electrical Engineering

Miami Beach Recreational Corridor Phase II

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CGA designed and permitted an on-grade, ADA-accessible pathway that supports the use of pedestrians and cyclists and an integral component of the City’s overall resiliency and climate adaptation plan, directly supporting the City’s investment in strengthening the dunes for storm surge protection and by providing a critical component of its alternative transportation network. The project is a part of the greater Atlantic Greenway Network, and comprises a critical component of the bicycle facilities throughout the City of Miami Beach. It connects Indian Beach Park on the south to the North Beach Recreational Trail at Allison Park with a 2-mile paver walkway, continuing the City’s unique branding qualities.

The path was permitted in accordance with the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection’s and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s regulations, as the entirety of the project lies within State-owned lands. The scope of work included extensive public outreach, branding and site design, coastal engineering, dune planting plans, lighting design, and bidding and construction administration. The project connects business districts, cultural/tourism centers, parks, residential neighborhoods and the beaches, and it completed a major portion of the essential north-south connector of the AGN to facilitate pedestrian and non-motorized transportation throughout the City.

Fire Station Commemorative Plaza

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The Delray Beach CRA’s 2002 Downtown Master Plan identified NW/SW 5th Avenue as the mid-point along Atlantic Avenue, between Interstate I-95 and the downtown core. The plan recommended the creation of twin public plazas on the northwest and southwest corners of the intersection to serve as a new neighborhood center and gathering place for the community as a whole. CGA designed the plaza on the Northwest corner which consists of landscape features and pedestrian amenities. The design also included colorful terrazzo and keystone pavers similar to the Libby Wesley Plaza (SW corner) of intersection, and includes four bronze emblems featuring fire rescue motifs. Green building elements such as permeable pavers and native vegetation were also incorporated into the project. The design allows for seamless integration into the Atlantic Avenue corridor while still honoring the unique civic identity of the Fire Rescue Headquarters.

Saddle Club Road Roundabout

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CGA’s design of the Weston Roundabout at Saddle Club Road and South Post Road included hardscape and softscape design, as well as drainage, planting, irrigation, and lighting design. CGA also created a proposed plant material palette that was consistent and compatible with the City of Weston’s codes and its “signature” landscape aesthetic. The project included paver crosswalks, a new entrance sign, and new columns and gates into the adjacent Regional Park. Accents, such as small columns in the circle, up lighting on the palms, and decorative traffic signs add to the aesthetic appeal of the project. This roundabout was among the first ever successful in Broward County and served as a design model that other municipalities followed.

Civic Center Park (Unbuilt)

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CGA reimagined a vacant lot outside of the Community Center that would inherently become a gateway to the Village’s civic area and collection of municipal complexes. The CGA design team approached the project as a timeless design that would relate to its surrounding functions of government, recreation and open space and would communicate a continued, upscaled quality. The park’s main component included a flexible open lawn area that doubled as a ‘civic’ green space that could be used for its versatility. The lawn area, outside of its passive day-to-day activity, could become a dynamic space that would transform into an event space to hold concerts, food trucks, community fitness activities, and markets. All of these components were incorporated to support programming in the Community Center and serve as an economic driver to the area. Other park components include an artwork plaza, a custom pergola design that enhances the branding of the area, sculptural boulder elements, passive congregation areas, and a pump track. The project also included lush landscape improvements, site drainage, and site lighting.

Patch Reef Park

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CGA was selected by the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Parks District to provide design, permitting, bidding and construction management services for the conversion of three existing natural grass fields to synthetic turf fields at Patch Reef Park. The project included the design for the installation of synthetic turf fields, the drainage system under the new fields, relocation of existing utilities, sidewalk improvements, relocation of existing landscaping, and modifications to the irrigation system. The new synthetic turf fields feature a totally organic mix of in-fill material, which means there is no black crumb rubber on the fields. The new fields also feature a new automatic, underground irrigation system that will greatly assist the park staff in keeping the field moist, which is a requirement for the organic in-fill material. This irrigation system can also be utilized to keep the fields cool in the summer months. The fields were designed to serve multiple sports, including football, lacrosse and soccer. In order to construct the new fields, several existing Sabal Palms had to be relocated, major modifications were made to the existing irrigation system in the park, and new landscaping was added. CGA also provided complete construction administration and inspection services throughout the construction of the project.

Peace Mound Park

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The impetus for the project lied in addressing existing ADA accessibility issues and bringing the park up to the same high standards of other parks in the city. Another major concern during the design of the project was the preservation of the existing tree canopy and the shaded, passive feeling of the park. Due to the significant amount of re-grading that was necessary in order to make the park ADA accessible, 85 of the nearly 500 existing trees had to be removed, and another 120 trees were relocated on site. To offset this loss, however, 150 new trees have been planted, including 18 specimen Live Oak trees. All of the walkways throughout the park are now accessible by wheelchair, and in many cases, this is made possible through the use of decorative stone retaining walls, which allowed for the preservation of the many existing mature trees within the park. The existing tot lot and swings have been replaced with a new play area that includes play equipment for children of all ages and physical abilities. The main play structure is completely accessible by children in wheelchairs, with a ramp leading up to the main platforms. Another major feature of the park is that it contains a significant archeological site with artifacts from the Tequesta Indians. Throughout the course of the project, care was taken not to disturb this area, and 8 new bronze plaques with information on the history of the area have been inlaid in the walkways that surround it.

North Bay Road Pedestrian Bridge

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CGA was retained by the City of Sunny Isles Beach to survey, design, permit, and administer the construction of the North Bay Road Bridge, spanning a canal between 174th St. and 172nd St. along North Bay Road. The principal function of the bridge is to provide pedestrian access across the canal, as well as it is designed to provide access to emergency vehicles as a bypass to Collins Ave. during periods of heavy traffic congestion.

The CGA team approached the project first as a ‘place’ and a pedestrian amenity, and second as an emergency access last. The design was centered on creating a park-like setting with planting and seating that would appeal to pedestrian use and would promote lingering. A strong branding strategy was embedded within the hardscape design that reinforced the concept of using infrastructure as a recreational asset and in turn has established it as a landmark within the City. The project included several work efforts adjacent to the bridge, including the construction of an observation deck in Town Center Park, located at the eastern end of the canal, and a boardwalk connecting the deck to the North Bay Road bridge. Associated drainage, roadway, utility, and hardscape improvements were made along 174th St. and 172nd St. to account for the increased drainage and other impacts to the surrounding infrastructure.

The project involved intensive coordination with regulatory agencies, utilities, government entities, and local stakeholders. The CGA team was able to procure all necessary permits to conduct the work on schedule.

North Beach Oceanside Park

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Miami Beach issued a simple request: to re-design a park. Specifically, the Request for Qualifications stated that the work products for the North Beach Oceanside Park would include conceptual drawing(s), surveying, geotechnical, design development, estimate(s) of probable construction cost, construction documents, permitting, bidding/award, and construction administration services. Embedded within the expectations of the City was a critical design component – the final design must define a new identity for the North Beach community by tapping into and revealing established values and qualities present in the site.

The resultant design took the densely-vegetated, 30-acre park and conceived it as a series of carefully orchestrated thresholds where park users will never feel secluded, inactive or unengaged. The design resulted in a necklace of ‘pods’ that operate as a spine to the project and serve to protect habitat and increase the City’s management of these natural resources. The walkways are scaled so that they foster continuous activities in potentially endless configurable ways and augments the opportunities for resiliency design by strengthening the dune, utilizing passive green infrastructure and LID stormwater management strategies. The project also incorporated a rebranding of the City’s established beachfront with an on-grade beachwalk destined to be a terminus to the City’s overall transportation infrastructure. The product developed for the park is one that will provide an immediate transformative quality for the North Beach Community, it will enhance cultural celebration, and it embodies the City’s values of good, environmental design and access to great public spaces.

Guy Davis Community Park Conceptual Design (Unbuilt)

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The CGA design team’s approach to the City’s call for qualifications was to propose a design solution that not only provided for the requirements listed within the RFP’s solicitation, but also pushed beyond the notions of the project simply as a sports complex, and instead approached the project with the intent of providing a holistic strategy that speaks to the potential of the project area and the need for the improvements to remain relevant to the community even when the sports fields are not in immediate use. Therefore, the approach consisted of four main themes:

  • Increasing interaction by developing a connected system of spaces that contribute to the heart of the community by creating a system of indispensable, inter-connected gathering spaces;
  • Providing a multiscale, sustainable solution to community design and site development that seeks to minimize and manage stormwater through Low Impact Development and use it as an opportunity to educate and demonstrate the importance of water conservation and natural processes;
  • Maximizing connectivity through trail systems that provide a circuited-loop with a design detailing that will seek to hone key skills such as physical, social, and cognitive functions; and
  • Taking steps to preserve the existing plant communities and site drainage to shape the character and identity of the park to its community.

SW 2nd Avenue Streetscape Project

Our approach to this project is one that is inherently about urban design and space-creation. It is not simply a matter of beautification, but rather as the process of embedding the environment with value to take advantage of inherent, flexible opportunities. We believe that these, in turn, will animate socialization, celebrate the culture of place, and provide for a multi-functional framework. We seek to capture the human experience, including mood, atmosphere, color, sound, tactility, pleasure and light that characterizes the ethos of ‘place’ that lives at this intersection of:

  • Culture – with the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Museum of Discovery and Science, and the Esplanade Park,
  • Socialization – with the vibrant Himmarshee Street nightlife scene,
  • History – with the campus of historical buildings, including the Museum of History, Hoch Heritage Center, Philemon Bryan House, King-Cromartie House, and the Schoolhouse), and
  • Access and Connectivity – with the continuity of the Riverwalk as a major destination linking the various waterfront properties.

Our goal for this project is to provide a design solution that results in products that are resilient, innovative, creative, sensitive, inspiring, memorable, responsible, interpretive, comprehensive, imaginative and visionary. We will lead by design and lead with design.

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