Bensonhurst Park is part of the larger Shore Parkway, an 816.1-acre collection of parks that stretches across Brooklyn and Queens. Today, the site provides a series of pathways, passive seating areas, recreational fields and a playground.
SWA/Balsley created a master plan for the redesign of the north end of the park and final design and construction documents for the first phase of construction. The proposed design features a new central plaza around the comfort station, improved circulation, and separate areas for 2 to 5-year-old and 5 to 12-year-old play. The design addresses NYC’s “Parks without Borders” initiative by seamlessly incorporating existing grade change into the play areas, and providing welcoming plazas at the park entrances.
Native plant material is implemented throughout the site to reduce maintenance. The design is sensitive to existing trees, which are an important part of the site’s character.
Hill at Sims
Set along Sims Bayou in Sunnyside, one of Houston’s oldest historically Black communities, Hill at Sims transforms a 106-acre stormwater detention basin into a regional park that pairs flood protection with public access, ecological restoration, and everyday recreation. Built around a four-story mound of earth created during the basin’s excavation in 2005, the...
Ricardo Lara Park
Ricardo Lara Park is a vibrant city park and a case study in landscape infrastructure. It demonstrates how a small investment and creative thinking about landscape can transform the very infrastructure that has long divided and isolated a community into an amenity that unites it, offering much-needed environmental and recreational benefits.
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Portsmouth Square
Portsmouth Square is the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown: the main civic park for all community festivals and events as well as an important day-to-day outdoor living room for the community. Centered in the densest community in the United States west of the Hudson River, the park plays a critical role in the health and well-being of the local residents, ove...
Lin'an High Tech Park
Lin’an Qingshan Lake Forest Technology Park offers a premier destination for high-tech and green-tech businesses. Designed in harmony with nature, this mixed-use community will foster productivity and connections to its physical and cultural setting, providing a vibrant mix of uses and a business culture appealing to a wide range of international enterprises. ...