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Project in Pictures: A Quiet Town Center on the Emerald Coast

July 11, 2023

To complement the new architecture and nearby forestry, designers implemented delicate, matching columns and bollards from Luminis.

Though the Watersound Origins community in Inlet Beach, FL, has been evolving for several years, the new Watersound Town Center  project along the pine-treed Emerald Coast, introduced 20,000 sq ft of leasable space and an 8,000-sq ft covered event pavilion to the area. The combined office, retail and restaurant space sits at a critical point between the U.S. Highway 98 corridor and Scenic Highway 30A. The project’s architecture and lighting scheme by WBA Architecture was designed to reflect themes of rest and respite while blending in with the landscape.

Project in Pictures: A Quiet Town Center on the Emerald Coast

Each luminaire, though dimmable and connected to a central lighting control panel for dusk-to-dawn functionality, is set to 3000K, producing a welcoming glow and a low energy level on pathways.

Project in Pictures: A Quiet Town Center on the Emerald Coast

Project manager and architect with WBA, Dennis Daniels, says, “We designed zones of light and dark. Movement and rhythm are created by interspersing luminaires in an asymmetrical pattern. Thus, we created moments of rest and reprieve and moments of highlighting.”

Project in Pictures: A Quiet Town Center on the Emerald Coast

In addition to the bollards and columns, ground projectors (Luminis) with pivot arms are precisely aimed to uplight the trees throughout the area, creating yet another moment of quiet highlighting.


All Pictures by Chad Baumer