This 4.5 acre plaza, once part of the NationsBank corporate headquarters, sits atop a two-level parking garage between a thirty-three story tower and two six-story bank pavilions, overlooking the Hillsborough River and the University of Tampa. Completed in 1988, the complex of gardens and buildings, designed by Dan Kiley and architect Harry Wolf, is based upon the Fibonacci mathematical sequence, whereby beginning with the numbers zero and one, each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two. Kiley used the sequence to determine the plaza’s checkerboard pattern of grass and concrete panels. Eight feet above street grade, the garden is accessed by steps and a concrete ramp which cross over five rectangular pools, each containing an island with an individual tree. Once inside the garden, five palm allées served as central avenues, with 800 randomly spaced crape myrtles planted underneath. The plaza’s seating cubes are part of the grid as well. Nine narrow concrete runnels originate from circular basins with bubblers and cross the site, culminating at a 400-foot long plexiglass bottomed canal. A water garden near the Tampa Museum was designed as a children’s play area, with plantings of jasmine, parkinsonia and dwarf yaupon hollies. Reconstruction of the garden began in 2006, including the removal of the sabal palms and crape myrtles, structural, electrical, and drainage repairs, reconstruction of the plaza’s small amphitheater, and garden surface reconstruction, re-paved to the original patterns. Plans are in place to replace the crape myrtles and palms and restore the water features.



