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At the crossroads of the St Johns and Jacksonville’s downtown, the Landing is a perfect place for a park that expresses the city’s identity.
Project Name: The Landing Design Competition
Client: The City of Jacksonville Downtown Investment Authority
Team: Agency Landscape + Planning, Bryony Roberts Studio, Gresham Smith, Colloqate Design, Dix.Hite + Partners, HR&A Advisors, and Moffatt & Nichol, with Grayscale Collaborative, Goode Landscape, Dunetz Landscape, and High Dive Studio.
At the crossroads of the mighty St. Johns and the downtown heart of Jacksonville, the Landing is a perfect place for a dynamic and bold expression of the city’s identity. As a design team, we asked ourselves and the Jacksonville community, what is that identity? What is “uniquely Jacksonville” and how can a lone public space express it?
What we learned was inspiring and heartfelt. People talked about the city and the river like long-lost friends. They reminisced about the reasons they were drawn to live in Jacksonville— or the reasons they would never leave it. They told us about the draw of the city’s unique natural setting— a dynamic, sunny, and riverine place. They remembered experiences of festivals or concerts and giggled about Jacksonville’s affinity for spectacle and fireworks.
But like any lost love, they also expressed what doesn’t work about the relationship. The river is a draw, but the public spaces that grant access to it are not yet alive and welcoming. The river, at its worst, can also be destructive. While the city can ace a blow-out event, the day-to-day experience of downtown lacks vitality and 24/7 vibrancy.
Jacksonville residents are craving a place that rekindles the love story—a place where the river and the city’s culture can come together and bring out the best in each other again. This union is where we focused our creativity and design thinking—and how we came to craft our proposal: “The Landing, A Love Story”.
NATURE - The St Johns River
Very few cities in the world can boast a river as unique and special as the St. Johns. While the visitor to Jacksonville — Florida’s “River City” — might quickly glean how key the St. Johns is to the city’s identity, beneath the surface of that moniker is a deeply compelling story. The St. Johns is not your average river. Its watershed is immense, draining a sixth of the state. Its black water - a term used to describe the river’s uniquely dark, tannic qualities - endows it with a sublime reflectivity. A dark foreground, the river’s surface becomes remarkably reflective in the distance - mirroring the dynamic Florida sky. On a blue sky day, the city becomes aquatic. At sunset, it’s all warmth and magic. Its marshy origins mean its snakes across flat grades for the majority of the journey, creating meandering, winding forms and sculptural oxbows.
Beyond its physical properties, the St. Johns has served as the lifeblood of Jacksonville. Noted by community members for its productivity both ecologically and industrially, the river has provided sustenance and mobility that have fueled Jacksonville’s growth. This interdependence has challenges as well - with engineering to deepen the river for industry welcoming in greater flood risk with sea-level rise.
CULTURE - Jacksonville
Jacksonville’s culture has been shaped over hundreds of years. A place that has resided under many flags historically, today there are a myriad of cultural identities - including indigenous roots, Gullah-Geechee traditions, renowned black history, proud military communities, enthusiastic sports fans and more. What we heard from the community is an enduring commitment to the city as a place of cultural diversity - and a recurring recognition that there is much to be gained from embracing the river as a space for togetherness. As an expression of culture, Downtown Jacksonville is poised for a renaissance. Renovations of its historic architecture and new construction alike are underway. New partnerships are bringing life to the city’s core, manifest in Laura Street improvements and enhanced programming at James Weldon Johnson Park. The Landing is a critical anchor in that system - and once played that role well.
Many community members shared stories of going to the Landing - for celebration, for food, for first dates. Today, the community shares a similar range of small, everyday desires. What we heard reinforces what we know about great parks. The parks we truly love - the places we deeply care about - are not about a single moment or experience - but a million memories.
The Landing - A Love Story
Our proposal for the Landing site unites these two special and defining forces— nature and culture— to create a public park that will exude Jacksonville’s identity. One-of-a-Kind Places. A series of park spaces and places offer everyday delight and activation to visitors. Sunset Hill gives visitors panoramic views of the park’s central plaza, river, and sunset. The Oxbow Fountain, shaded by a dynamic river-inspired canopy, allows for family fun and play. Dining decks at the river’s edge sit in the shade of artful architecture and answer the community’s call for a variety of food options. Hogan Street and Independent Drive are reconfigured and reclaimed for pedestrian connectivity. Laura Street seamlessly becomes Riverfront Plaza, an open flexible heart to the park. The Riverwalk’s continuity is prioritized, while also breaking it free from the bulkhead and welcoming dynamic new experiences.
Embracing the St. Johns. Marsh spaces are created along the river, allowing for spaces to reveal and interpret the dynamic flood dynamics of the St. Johns. These water-loving landscapes also allow for a gradual transition and pedestrian refuge to the enhanced boat docking area. Vertical development is held back from the river’s edge, allowing for an elevation ground floor plate to enhance future flood resilience. Bringing the People of Jacksonville Together. The many different park places work together to create ever-changing event experiences for people of all ages, backgrounds, cultures, and abilities. From winter and spring festivals to small and large-scale performances, the park’s places are sized and composed to support active programming. Service and event logistics are incorporated efficiently. With a vision rooted in the community of Jacksonville and a design team with passion and technical rigor, the Landing is a feasible proposal that can once again make Jacksonville fall in love with its river, the city and maybe even each other.
Our Role
The Landing-A Love Story was an incredible design effort developed between many creative offices, led by Agency Landscape & Planning. Goode Landscape played a key role centered on visual storytelling, design development, and participating in collaborative design dialogues with the larger team. We supported the creative efforts of Agency, Bryony Roberts Studio, and Dix.Hite + Partners. We were honored to help develop and refine our team’s collective vision into a cohesive and compelling design submission for this special site. This work was part of a paid competition, where our team led by Agency was a finalist, along with OLIN and Perkins+Will.