Longleaf Art Park

The St. Joe Company and The Berkowitz Contemporary Foundation, an arts-supporting non-profit organization, announces plans for Longleaf Art Park. 

 

Currently under development in the Watersound Origins community, the 15.5-acre Longleaf Art Park will be a vibrant addition to Walton County, Florida, a new focal point of cultural, educational, and recreational experiences. Anchored by a purpose-built pavilion housing the 217’ long Passage of Time sculpture, a significant masterwork from world renowned artist Richard Serra, the park is designed to be a community hub offering diverse opportunities for enrichment and enjoyment.

 

Merging with the surrounding natural environment, the expansive art-themed park has a landscape of native flora and fauna, with winding recreational hiking trails offering picturesque views of the surrounding wetlands. On the northern edge of the park, the 17,000 square foot sculpture pavilion will serve as a versatile gallery space, accommodating galas, lectures, and special events, contributing to a vibrant community atmosphere.

 

As the Passage of Time Pavilion serves as the anchor, the overall planning concept of the art park was to provide a heightened and pure experience of Serra’s sculpture, while keeping construction disturbances of the site to a minimum. Besides the Passage of Time Pavilion, all amenities such as the reception, rest pavilion, visitor parking, and the large 20,000 square foot event space, which provide ample programming opportunities, were strategically placed on this cleared half of the site, away from the sculpture pavilion. Strategically contoured berms, whose fill will be taken from the retention pond protecting the surrounding wetlands, provide visual shielding of the pavilion forcing the visitor on a journey to discover Passage of Time.

 

To house Serra’s sculpture, New York-based OLI Architecture purposefully chose to visually expose the piece to be experienced with the existing tree canopy.  The design of the pavilion is deceptively simple yet highly engineered, carefully planned and detailed to heighten the art experience starting from the siting. Like the winding streams and decks that navigate the natural topography of the nearby wetlands, the pavilion is approached from a winding wooden deck, echoing the rhythmic form of the sculpture, that weaves between the tree columns. It hovers off the ground, true to the minimal impact ethos of the development. As one nears the pavilion, the turns become more frequent affording varying glimpses of the pavilion through the columns of the pine forest trunks and the pavilion façade.

The 300’ long x 110’ wide trapezoidal pavilion enclosure is entered from glass vestibules located at the concave pockets of the sculpture, one-third the length of the piece from opposing ends. The two entrances thus receive the visitors necessitating ambulation around and through, forcing an intimate experience with the sculpture.

 

Plans call for the Longleaf Art Park to be completed and open to the public in 2026.