Michael A. Gilkey, Inc.

Having difficulty reading this email? Please view the web version.
You're receiving this newsletter because you've shown an interest in our company. Unsubscribe instantly.

News from the Design Studio: September 2009

Outdoor Rooms: South Casey Key Residence

Working with architect Clifford Sholz of CMSA Architects, as well as two incredible clients and a dream team of contractors, made completing this South Casey Key residence a true pleasure. The resort style landscape showcases a millstone fountain designed and specified by Michael A. Gilkey, Inc., and several sculptural elements tucked within the landscape. Michael A. Gilkey, Inc . designed a sprawling flagstone hardscape, lagoon style pool, and dense tropical landscape, which combine to create vistas and viewsheds that celebrate this home's Gulf exposure. Throughout the poperty, urns and vessels are filled with playful, textural plant elements, bringing the bright design to eye level. Dune mitigation and careful native plant preservation efforts were undertaken to ensure that the unique context of this property was uncompromised. Drought tolerant, salt tolerant, and native or proven materials were used in this landscape, as well as low volume and Waterwise irrigation practices, ensuring sustainability.

Ornamental Outlook Cover Story

We were thrilled to have been notified that Ornamental Outlook is featuring Michael A. Gilkey, Inc. as the cover story for their September's issue. Editor Paul Rusnak visited our offices and spent several hours with Michael, discussing the landscape design industry and touring several finished projects.

An excerpt from the cover story: "According to Gilkey, an award-winning design begins with positive working relationships among the owner, architect, landscape architect, and all other subcontractors and suppliers. 'Because of these relationships and open lines of communication, we see a true collaborative process that benefits the project through expertise and commitment of everyone involved,' Gilkey says. While winning awards is nice, Gilkey says there’s no higher compliment than one from his father. 'Dad still critiques every job I do,” he says. “I got a B+ a couple weeks ago, which is the highest grade I’ve ever gotten from him. So, I’m doing pretty well,' he chuckles."

Read the article and view a slideshow of Paul's visit to the studio.

Detail Design: A New Addition to our Website

We welcome you to visit our website, www.magilkey.com, and take a look at the newest section of our Portfolio: Detail Design . In this section we chronicle the execution of a design concept through the finest detail, such as container gardening, water feature and hardscape design. This section will be constantly updated as projects continue to be installed and photographed, so please visit often!

Making an Entrance

The cover story in the Home and Garden section of the August 30th Sarasota Herald-Tribune was called 'Making an Entrance.' Several design experts were asked to share 'simple and affordable ways to create inspired, artful and inviting entranceways.' Michael A. Gilkey, Inc., was featured.

An exerpt: "Michael Gilkey compares a home’s first impression to an inspired piece of music. A great entrance is like a well-crafted overture; it unfolds over time. 'Think about not just actual front-door area, but the arrival sequence,' he says. Begin with what leads up to the entrance. 'Entry walkways should lead the eye to the front door.'"

Current Trends: Designing with Nature (Sustainability)

Sustainability has become more than just a buzz word--it has become a standard. Designers are faced with a new set of challenges that insist that their projects be long-lasting, affordable and environmentally sensitive. One pioneer foresaw these needs well before his time: landscape architect Ian McHarg. In his 1969 landmark book Design With Nature , McHarg writes: "In the quest for survival, success, and fulfillment, the ecological view offers an invaluable insight. It shows the way for the man who would be the enzyme of the biosphere—its steward, enhancing the creative fit of man-environment, realizing man's design with nature”.

Although McHarg's principles were used at the community/development scale, those same principles can be applied to the smallest of residential projects. Understanding the science behind the site and the horticulture of the palette is paramount to sustainable design. Even the best design will fail if the wrong plants are specified. Our palette includes only those plants that are happy to be right where they are, following the first principle of Florida-Friendly landscaping: 'Right Plant Right Place': If plants are selected that force us to impose our will on them by using water, nutrients, or pest control in excess of what the site provides, then they will fail. Florida has a robust growing climate and we have a large palette of plants to pull from. Take time to contemplate the site's soils and light exposures and how they relate to the specific requirements of the plant palette. With the right plant palette, we can design with nature.

--Michael A. Gilkey, Jr. LA#6666774

Honorable Mention

The Cherokee Park West project, a collaboration between Jonathan Parks Architect and Michael A. Gilkey, Inc., received the Residential Design Build Magazine 2009 Excellence Award in Outdoor Living. Residential Design Build Magazine honors 'the best in custom home architecture' each year in its Design Excellence Awards Program. Cherokee Park West was one of only twenty projects selected nationwide.

Forward to a friend
Unsubscribe
What's New?