Just outside of Downtown Lakeland, on the eastern edge of Lake Bonnet, the City of Lakeland is preparing to embark on the construction of a new 180 acre urban park.  The park is one of the most significant urban interventions taking place in the Central Florida region and will have a measurable impact on its surrounding community.  It will provide new places for people to gather and spend time, including walking trails, restaurants, a concert venue, and other cultural attractions.  

 In this studio, we will be designing park follies (small, playful structures) for Bonnet Springs Park that will also act as active ecological components.  The structures will be designed not only to delight visitors, but also to contribute to maintaining the health of the park's ecosystem.  They may filter water, act as bird feeders, purify soil, manage stormwater runoff, or provide protection for wetlands, among many other functions.

Bonnet Springs Park is being designed by Sasaki, an award-winning lanscape and planning firm based in Boston, who will be advising us throughout this studio.  Students will design and build models of their follies, gradually increasing in scale over the course of the studio.