Orlando

A 55-acre waterfront shopping, dining, and entertainment village has been centrally located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida since 1975. Through the years, numerous aesthetic enhancements have taken place as well as structural and systems improvements. Huitt-Zollars addressed aesthetic/architectural design issues regarding the pedestrian common areas, hardscapes, storefronts, decorative landscape, environmental graphics, site, transportation, parking areas, new restaurant building, and new service building.

This 500,000 square-foot, 27-story concept mixed-use development features a sustainable design of entertainment, hotel, and retail areas that tie into the existing retail center. The project also includes a renovation to the existing mall facade and closed atrium.

Huitt-Zollars celebrates the opening of the new flagship restaurant for Blaze Pizza, the nation's leading fast casual artisanal pizza chain, in Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort. The modern day "pizza joint," known for its chef-­driven recipes and casually hip restaurants, debuts in an architecturally innovative structure that was designed by the Huitt-Zollars specifically for this iconic location.

Architectural design services were provided for Thornton Park Central, a self-contained living/working environment. The multi-use project includes 20,000 SF of retail space, features a sidewalk café with patio seating, and four levels of residential condos above the street level shops. The 328-car parking garage is tucked behind the street-front shops and condos, providing availability for tenants and guests. The project’s north wing hosts 40,000 SF of commercial office space within five floors, and features scenic views to historic Lake Eola and the downtown Orlando skyline.

Built on the former site of historic Cypress Gardens, Florida’s first theme park, the team melded the Owner’s vision of the LEGOLAND brand with the valuable assets of the site’s history. The design team scrutinized the viability of existing structures and every tree on the 150‑acre site. Throughout the design, the park’s majestic and historic canopy was protected. Over 80 percent of the existing canopy was preserved in place, and 20 large specimen trees were relocated by crane to strategic locations within the property.

Huitt-Zollars provided full design services for the JW Marriott Hotel at Bonnet Creek in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Services included concept design through construction administration for the following:

• Contemporary designed destination resort 516 hotel units
• 50,000 SF of banquet facilities
• 1,000­ car structured garage
• Restaurants and lounges, public amenities, pool decks, spa, and fitness center
• Rooftop amenities and outdoor function space

At the University of Central Florida’s Knights Plaza, Huitt-Zollars’ bold vision reinvented the existing plaza by giving it a new modern aesthetic, a sense of place, and more appropriately scaled spaces. The design broke the previous plaza down into three distinct outdoor “rooms,” providing needed spatial definition, shade, and seating options. This dynamic solution maintains a central events space, bound by alleys of date palms, plants, and fountains, creating shaded seating options in the new interstitial spaces between the larger rooms.