Michael A. Gilkey, Inc.

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News from the Design Studio: April 2010

Outdoor Rooms: Modern Casey Key Renovation

It was an absolute honor for Michael A. Gilkey, Inc. to revitalize the context this modern South Casey Key home designed by architect Carl Abbott . We created a sunken garden using staggered concrete paver stones with blue recycled aggregate, custom made for our design by Concrete Countertops, Etc., and a dramatic tropical plant palette, including specimen bromeliads and succulent beauties. The staggered concrete stones open onto a hand-set native flagstone walkway, leading the user around the modern swimming pool through a playful sculpture garden, and ultimately points one toward the breathtaking Gulf vista through native beach plantings and the gentle swaying palms.

2010 Best of SRQ Local: Michael A. Gilkey, Inc.

Thanks so much to all who voted in the 2nd Annual Best of SRQ Local Competition! Michael A. Gilkey, Inc. was a finalist in the Best Architecture Firm category, and the only landscape architect mentioned. We congratulate our colleagues at DSDG and Jonathan Parks Architect who also placed in the Best Architecture Firm category, and Josh Wynne Construction, winner of the Best Builder category and finalist in the Best Innovative Thinker category. Read about all of the winners and finalists here!

From the Category "Best Architecture Firm":

"Of course, many of our readers called for the creation of a landscape architect category to make sure designers of the great outdoors got their due, but the yardmasters at Michael A. Gilkey earned a spot in this category for outstanding greenery work at homes and businesses from Anna Maria Island to Lido Key."

Website Update: On the Boards

We've updated the On the Boards and Detail Design sections of our website recently. A large majority of the plans that come out of our design studio are fully rendered, hand-crafted designs such as these. This technique allows us to convey graphically the emotion we desire in a client's finished landscape.

April is National Landscape Architecture Month

April is National Landscape Architecture Month, a time for professionals and students to celebrate the impact landscape architecture has created in their communities, and to focus on introducing students and the public to the profession. Michael A. Gilkey, Inc. is celebrating by educating students of all ages about the profession and practice of landscape architecture, and by giving back to the community.

What is Landscape Architecture?

Landscape architecture is the profession that encompasses the analysis, planning, design, management and stewardship of the natural and built environment. Activities of a landscape architect include creating public parks, site planning for commercial and residential properties, reclaiming blighted areas, designing towns and historic preservation. Landscape architects have advanced education, professional training, specialized skills and licensure in 46 states.

Teaching Sustainability

Michael A. Gilkey, Jr. will celebrate National Landscape Architecture Month by engaging students in the practice of his profession. At the youngest level, Southside Elementary kindergarten students will design and plant their own “Shoebox Butterfly Gardens,” with flowering plants supplied by Mariposa Nurseries . Gilkey will facilitate the exercise in the students’ science lab, taught by Mr. Chip Phillips. Gilkey is excited to share his love of the profession with even the youngest students, his own son Banyan among them. “Sustainability is a principle that can be taught at a very young age. To me, sustainability is not a constraint, but an avenue to increased creativity.”

April Sarasota Magazine Features Michael Gilkey, Jr.

Michael A. Gilkey, Jr. is honored to be the subject of Sarasota Magazine’s April Designing Minds , a regular feature interviewing local designers about trends in their industry. The following are excerpts from Michael's interview with writer Ilene Denton. Read the interview in its entirety here.

Q: Was landscape architecture your destiny?

I was digging holes when I was 12 years old. Dad later brought me in as a draftsman, and when I saw “the magic behind the doors” that went into design, I fell in love with landscape architecture.

Q: Where do you start?

An intensive assessment of the property: where do we need to buffer, where are the good views? I look at the soils, light, water, drainage patterns. Any design, no matter how wonderful it is, fails if we choose the wrong plants.

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