USF Dance, Engineering Create Dancing Wheelchair

Sarasota’s Salt & Light Scoops Up 2nd Emmy

Tampa Theatre Seen As A Portrait Of America

Lowry Park Zoo Gets Kudos For Conservation Efforts

WaterPlay Touts Tampa Bay As Top Destination

St. Pete: A Cozy, Winter Beach Retreat

St. Pete To Unveil New Dali On 1/11/11

Have you picked your Dali do yet? What about your scarf? And your shoes? With only weeks to go, partygoers and museum patrons are abuzz about all the hoopla surrounding the Jan. 11, 2011 official opening of a brand new Dali Museum just eight blocks north of its current location in St. Petersburg. Its new address? One Dali Boulevard. But you can't miss it. It's the only building of its kind in North America.The outside architecture of the new Salvador Dali Museum boasts more than 900 triangular-shaped glass panels, each one unique in form. Together, they reflect the play of light and color that comprise St. Pete's waterfront. The geodesic glass structure is patterned after the dome featured in Dalí's Teatro Museo in Figueres, Spain, designed by Buckminster Fuller. A waterfront garden features a labyrinth.The new space is twice the size of the former museum, and is designed to protect the artwork housed there from hurricane-force winds. The collection will also double in size. Interior features were inspired by Dali's work and include a helical staircase, which reaches to the third floor galleries. According to a statement issued by the museum, Dali used the helix in his artwork as a metaphor for nature's innate divinity. The new space also houses classrooms, a student gallery, a theater and a cafe.The new building was designed by HOK Architect Yann Weymouth, design director for HOK's Florida office. He says the guiding philosophy was very simple."The museum sits on this beautiful waterfront," he says. "So the art needs to be protected from hurricane winds. So the design is really a duality between strong, solid form and an almost liquid, transparent design. The main structure is composed of concrete wall, and then bursting out rather gleefully is the geodesic glass design."Writer: Missy KavanaughSource: Yan Weymouth, HOK Architects

New Shops, Cafes Open In Downtown Clearwater

Once simply a route to Clearwater Beach, a newly revamped Cleveland Street is emerging into a destination on its own.The City of Clearwater has realized its three-pronged plan to transform Cleveland Street from a sleepy downtown thoroughfare to the beach to a downtown district. Cleveland Street runs from Drew Street just north of Route 60 to just shy of the Intercoastal Waterway.The city's strategy for improvements includes new and upgraded infrastructure, residential development and events to bring people downtown, according to Geraldine Lopez of Clearwater's Economic Development and Housing Department."We needed to give people a reason to come downtown," Lopez says. "We did studies that gave us ideas -- like a sidewalk café district. So a lot of our incentives and programs surround recruiting restaurants and cafes. We also revisited our branding and logo. Instead of calling this area downtown Clearwater, we're calling it the Cleveland Street District.''Lopez says a number of businesses recently opened on Cleveland Street, including Casanova Restaurant & Lounge, the Hot Spot Café and I Care Medical Supply. Expanded businesses include Tony's Pizzeria and Peter Gillham's Nutrition Center, which expanded to two businesses: Gillham's Naturals and Green Organic Food & Wine Bar. New residential options include The Strand, Station Square and Water's Edge. Infrastructure improvements include boat slips along the downtown waterfront and an improved streetscape that includes public art."We have been focused on redeveloping downtown for the last 10 years," Lopez says  "For a number of years, you had to go down Cleveland to get to Clearwater Beach. But with the new bridge, traffic shifted away from Cleveland. Now people have a reason to go downtown."Writer: Missy KavanaughSource: Geraldine Lopez, City of Clearwater

Studio Independent Honors SPARK Brand

Working with a metal structure can be tricky. But in the right hands, it can be molded into something extraordinary.Studio Independent, a Ybor City architectural firm, took on the challenge of renovating a metal building in South Tampa for SPARK, an advertising agency with a thing for metal buildings.The architects wanted to align their design with the ad agency's business philosophy. "SPARK is a branding company," says Brandon Hicks, co-owner of Studio Independent, which he owns with his wife Sarah Joubert. "So we looked at their process, which is to find what works for their client, tweak it and repackage it  So we did that for them. We kept what was working with the space and totally repackaged it."Doing so required a lot of analysis. "Their previous office was this industrial, metal building," he says. "For SPARK, the new space was exactly what they were looking for. For us, it was about analyzing things -- determining what we could and couldn't use. "The building type really dictated what we could and couldn't do," Hicks continues. "Metal buildings are very economical until you start altering them. You can't just cut into metal. You have to be very careful where you carve so you don't compromise any structural components. If you do, it starts to get very expensive. So we had to do a lot of pre-project analysis."Hicks says the SPARK project is a first for his firm, which he and his wife started 18 months ago."Someone I went to school with runs in the same circle as we do, and he knew SPARK was looking for a new architect -- a new and upcoming firm looking for a portfolio-type project -- and he referred us to SPARK. We set up a meeting the same day we got the call. We couldn't have asked for a better first project."Writer: Missy KavanaughSource: Brandon Hicks, Studio Independent