The design intent is centered on the idea of enmeshing the building and the landscape as one in celebration of this former refuge from the world left behind and the beginning of a new legacy.
The new Virginia Key Beach landscape utilizes strand landscape types to integrate the natural and infrastructural needs/uses of the site. Strand landscapes build upon the existing natural ecology while facilitating new uses associated with recreation, conservation, commemoration and interpretation. The strands are dynamic systems that support human and natural life. Built objects are commingled with the natural landscape providing a specific identity to the rich cultural heritage. The strands weave the idiosyncratic.
The strands are the DNA for Virginia Key Beach. Each strand can be read separately, presenting the familiar programmatic requirements for the new facility. It is the weaving of program and use that give the strand landscape its particular identity to place. The existing site is composed of a simple set of landscape strands; i.e. coastal/dune strand, hammock, etc.. The museum site development layers new strands with the existing that enrich the environment ecologically and functionally. The landscape performs better with increased capacity.
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