History Leads to Windmark Beach
The Star - May 16, 2008 - 4:32PM
Everything old is new again.
It's something that many people discover in the Gulf County area,
including a handful of architects from locations far from here.
Those architects, all involved in the planning of WindMark Beach,
sat down to talk about how they took to heart the old adage in
planning and designing the resort complex.
Master planning of the entire WindMark complex began almost a decade
ago in late 1999, according to Paul Milana, who has been involved
since the beginning.
Milana and Philip Giang, both architects with Cooper Robertson and
Partners, knew from their initial site visit in 1999 that the area
was very special and needed careful handling.
They began the concept plan for WindMark in 2000 and the finished
product, they said, is very similar to their plan.
"We let the concept plan rest for a while after the initial
planning, but came back with a vengeance after Sept. 11 [2001],"
said Milana. "We developed the master plan in more detail and worked
out the environmental plan, which is the underpinning of the entire
project."
Giang and Milana remarked frequently on the "rare and strange
environment" of WindMark and adjacent areas, describing the
landscape as a "washboard."
"It's amazing to see micro climates separated by only 10 feet,"
Milana said, describing how the washboard contours of the land -
continuous ridges and dips - controlled everything they designed.
"We knew we had a powerful landscape to protect."
Using other coastal communities as templates, Milana and Giang
visited places like Fire Island, New York (a truly pedestrian
seaside community accessible only by boat) and the famous Atlantic
City boardwalk, among several others.
Guiding Principles
Among their guiding principles, they said, was to treat cars where
they needed to be, and remove vehicles where possible.
Through their plan for a series of boardwalks, the architects worked
to incorporate foot traffic, bicycles, in-line skates and golf carts
as their primary means of transportation through out the complex.
The ruggedness of the landscape was also the foundation for the
fundamentals of the architecture, they said.
The development was, in their words, "unusual, a new kind of
project," with the uniqueness of the extensive community boardwalks
and the beach walk as particular challenges.
Giang, who worked extensively on the beach walk, admitted the four
miles of the old U.S. 98 were especially challenging.
He said he wanted to incorporate "little elements of surprise" along
the four mile stretch, especially to indicate directions, since the
strip of roadbed looked the same along its length.
"Cooper Robertson had worked in Walton County with projects located
along old [U.S.] 98," Giang said, "but we knew the conditions were
different here. There were big trucks and high speeds, so it was not
the same at all. We knew if we could move [U.S.] 98, there would be
an enormous opportunity to use the beach."
Maintaining Beach Access/Habitat
Giang and Milana both remembered the opposition in Gulf County to
moving [U.S.] 98, with so many people believing that moving the road
would take the beach away from people.
Actually, it was the opposite, they said.
"Moving the road basically gave the water back to the public," said
Giang, "and also gave the beach back to the beach mice and the
turtles. It resulted in an enormous creation of habitat instead of
the usual mitigation for lost wetlands," he added.
Architect Peter Dominick, of the firm 42/40, lives in Colorado. He
contrasted the WindMark beach walk with developments out west.
The boardwalk systems of WindMark are excellent for preservation of
habitat, he agreed, especially when combined with such large amounts
of natural areas, which surround the boardwalks.
"It's a brutal landscape, tough," he said, describing the washboard
system of sandy hills and arid low places.
"It was a blessing moving [U.S.] 98. Notice that all the boardwalks
run perpendicular to [U.S.] 98. It's much more pleasant, giving
softness to the landscape areas.
"In the long run, it will also be more healthful," Dominick said.
A Different Take
Ross Anderson, of Anderson Architects in Manhattan, had another take
on the area's landscape and the natural sounds unique to the coast
and pristine natural areas.
Anderson, who designed one of the model houses, was also charged
with designing housing for the mechanical aspects of the town
center.
To illustrate his thinking on the subject, he said he told his
fellow architects about being in Manhattan during a blackout.
He walked along the edge of Central Park, he said, and heard a
strange noise.
It was crickets, he told them.
Crickets are always there, he continued, "but we never heard them
because of all the other noise. So, after visiting the WindMark
area, the question became, how do you deal with machines, like air
conditioning units, if you want the environment to be natural?
"We tried to use local architecture and building materials that made
sense in the 1900, that were sympathetic to the area, but then
machines arrived," Anderson said. "It was a bit of a struggle to
work around the noise and sights of machines."
Architect John Kirk, designer of the WindMark Southern Accents House
and a member of Cooper Robertson and Partners, added that they had
numerous references for house designs, but not for larger buildings.
"It was tougher," he said.
The Landmark Tower
Eric Davidson, project manager for WindMark Beach, said preserving
the quiet of the natural area, plus the amazing night skies for
which the region is known, added to the concern about noisy
machinery.
"That's how the landmark tower came to be." he said. "It is the
cooling plant for the entire town center."
The tower, which is located at the entrance to the town hub at Good
Morning Street off of U.S. 98, is a very large structure that
manages to contain - very quietly - the entire cooling system for
the town, yet blends right in with the surrounding buildings and
even the landscape.
As Anderson talked about the tower, he described how the design
allows for groups to gather, play and "generally hang out" at the
structure that serves as a community center, as well.
"Our job was to preserve this place because it is so beautiful and
pristine," Milana said, pointing out the older style architectural
ideas that had been incorporated in the model houses.
A Mix of Old and New
In enumerating all the old ideas the team wove into the buildings,
he pointed out that the houses are all on pilings, which allows for
natural air flow and the natural percolation of water back in to the
ground.
This encourages better long-term survival of both the animals and
the houses, he explained.
A favorite building feature among the architects that shows up
throughout the town center and in all the houses is the
old-fashioned dog trot, which allows breezes to pass through and
between buildings for better cooling.
"We were constantly finding new reasons for old, tried and true
ideas," Kirk said.
Just as interesting as the melding of old ideas into new styles was
the smooth working of the diverse team of architects.
"A real powerhouse of architects, with an amazing dynamic, who left
their egos at the door," was Anderson's description of the design
team.
"We exchanged ideas about this special place and made a conscious
effort to work together, which resulted in a fabulous project," he
added.
"This entire project could have had a visually loud result, but as
each one of us presented his or her designs, each flowed in to the
other," Milana agreed. "It was all fueled by the uniqueness and the
beauty of the landscape."
Davidson concurred.
"Having worked with designers all over the world, so often with
diverse teams you get diverse, and not always converging, results,"
he said. "But here, we weren't chasing an architectural style, we
were chasing an ethic."
"St. Joe picked their team very carefully," Kirk agreed. "We've had
lots of fun, laughs and debates."
"It was so clear that we could not be a bunch of carpetbaggers
trying to import foreign ideas to this area. We can thank Cooper
Robertson for knowing how to read the landscape and giving us the
direction," Anderson said, describing some of their travels around
the county to "get a sense of the larger landscape, not just the
beach."
"One part of the success of this project was to understand the
culture here," Giang pointed out. "One of the amazing things is the
local characteristics."
"We all felt inspired, and our debates and meetings became a pure
exchange of ideas," Milana concluded. "Everyone was generous with
his or her sources of information and examples. We learned so much
even after 20 years of doing this."