Client
St. Marks Episcopal School
Completion Date
July 2022
Location
Oakland Park, Florida
HIGHLIGHTS
Sea Lab Design
20 sq ft. Tidal Pool
550ft of Seawall Rehab
Flood Mitigation
Services
Project Design
Permitting
Engineering
Project Management
Industry
Private Education
Marine Resiliency
Summary Overview
Activating the Waterfront for Education and Discovery
St. Mark’s Episcopal School is a faith-based, independent school in Oakland Park dedicated to academic excellence, character development, and fostering curiosity through experiential learning. With a strong commitment to service, leadership, and environmental stewardship, the school continuously seeks opportunities to enrich the student experience both inside and outside the classroom.
Situated along more than 550 feet of the Middle River, the school recognized an opportunity to transform its underutilized waterfront into a vibrant extension of its campus. The vision was to create a space that would support hands-on science education, connect students with the natural environment, and open new possibilities for physical education and outdoor learning.
The result is a first-of-its-kind outdoor learning environment anchored by the Sea Lab, a 400-square-foot tidal pool where river water flows freely, creating a living laboratory for environmental science and exploration. The project also includes a fixed dock, gangway, and floating marginal dock to support a school-based sailing instruction program. Together, these improvements turn the riverfront into a dynamic, resilient space that reflects St. Mark’s values of innovation, faith, and lifelong learning.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
- Designed a first-of-its-kind tidal pool to support hands-on environmental science education
- Led regulatory permitting and secured a new submerged lands lease to enable waterfront access and programming
- Engineered a seawall installation approach that balanced long-term resilience with minimal environmental disruption
- Permitted fixed dock, gangway, and floating marginal dock to support a school-based sailing program
- Phased approvals to allow seawall construction to begin ahead of final lease execution
- Facilitated connections between school faculty and local institutions to support curriculum development rooted in environmental stewardship
OUR ROLE
Brizaga served as the Engineer-of-Record and led all aspects of design and permitting for the transformation of St. Mark’s waterfront campus. Working closely with the school, we developed a comprehensive engineering and permitting strategy that balanced innovation, ecological sensitivity, and construction feasibility.
To support the school’s vision for a resilient and functional waterfront, Brizaga designed a seawall installation approach tailored to the site’s unique coastal conditions. The solution provided long-term shoreline protection while minimizing environmental disruption—ensuring that construction could proceed efficiently within the sensitive tidal setting and in harmony with the educational goals of the project.
As part of the broader permitting effort, Brizaga led coordination with state and local agencies to secure all required approvals, including a new submerged lands lease for the proposed fixed dock, gangway, and floating marginal dock. We also secured approvals for the first-of-its-kind tidal pool, a centerpiece of the Sea Lab and a unique feature within Florida’s regulatory landscape.
To support project momentum, Brizaga strategically phased permit approvals to allow the start of seawall construction prior to finalization of the submerged lands lease. In parallel, our team also supported the school’s educational vision by connecting faculty with other local academic institutions, helping lay the foundation for a new environmental science curriculum rooted in hands-on learning and stewardship.
MORE ABOUT SEA LAB
A K-8 STREAM MODEL
SeaLab is a first of its kind STREAM (Science Technology River Engineering Arts Math) model in K-8 education. Designed to inspire students to see challenges to sustainability in their community as opportunities to become part of the solution. Children are the greatest out-of-box thinkers who have the potential to come together to move the dial on issues that will make the communities they are set to inherit a better place.
PROJECT GALLERY
