Hennepin Avenue is the oldest street in Downtown Minneapolis, and has gone through multiple transformations over time. The street is undergoing a major reconstruction, and SWA is leading the effort to enhance the character of Hennepin for years to come. The conceptual approach was developed through a robust public engagement process, and touches on the three main themes. “Movement” speaks to the multi-modal energy of the Avenue as the new street layout widens its pedestrian realm, accommodates bike traffic with designated bikeways, and introduces a BRT line. “History” is an interpretive component that ensures that the layers of Hennepin’s famed past are celebrated, and “Spectacle” connects with the Theater District, creating a spectacular ambiance day-to-night and throughout the seasons.
In curating urban design and landscape elements, we accounted for seasonal maintenance practices to ensure sustainability of planting material and streetscape finishes.
Halperin Park
Halperin Park (previously known as Southern Gateway Park) caps Highway 35 in South Dallas directly adjacent to the Dallas Zoo and the Oak Cliff neighborhood. The park’s design effectively reconnects the neighborhood, which was cleaved by the highway’s construction many decades ago.
Recognizing the reunification’s significance, the cap park design introd...
Fort Wayne Riverfront
As a city that was built and thrived because of its location as a crossroads between wilderness and city, farm and market, the realities of infrastructure both natural and man-made are at the heart of Fort Wayne’s history. We consider waterways as an integral part of open spaces of the City, forming a series of infrastructural systems that affect the dynamics ...
Lewis Avenue
In a city renowned for fantasy, the design of Las Vegas’ Lewis Avenue celebrates the local desert landscape and affirms the street as part of a real-world working district. It was one of the first projects to be implemented in Mayor Oscar B. Goodman’s 2000 Las Vegas Downtown Centennial Plan, aimed at revitalizing the historic downtown core. The City asked SWA,...
Wuhan East Lake Greenway
PHASE 1: Wuhan, known as the land of one thousand lakes, is one of the most ancient cities in China, and is the third largest technological and education center in China, only behind Beijing and Shanghai. Now home to over 8 million people, Wuhan has become the dominant transportation hub in Central China and holds the distinguished role of capital of Hubei Pro...