Located along Chongqing’s Jialing River, this new linear public park offered unique challenges: a 30-meter annual river fluctuation, steep topography, and low-impact maintenance of a continuous riparian corridor. Adjacent new urban development, with attendant needs for green space, called for a flexible and resilient approach to the park’s landscape and infrastructure.
The design for Golden Shoal (also known as Jin Hai Wan) Riverfront Park took the overlapping layers of terrestrial, aquatic, and cultural and natural heritage into account. SWA wanted to provide an accessible, playful riverfront within a long and narrow stretch of land: one that would be both ecologically and socially resilient. Water quality is maintained through controlled release at all park levels, preserving existing topography and plantings against erosion. The resulting park design blends the site’s riparian and industrial heritage with a new layer of elements, while building in new access to the river and its adjacent lands for an emerging district’s residents and visitors.
Dubai Hills Boulevard and Public Realm
Envisioned as a garden oasis strategically situated where city meets desert, Dubai Hills will be a vibrant yet elegant mixed-use community for 21st-century living. The key public realm element of this massive 1,000-hectare development is a 5.6-kilometer urban boulevard lined with shops, residences, and offices along the district’s central spine. SWA/Balsley de...
Haden Park
Tucked into a corner of Houston’s Spring Branch district, Haden Park has been reimagined as a shaded, amenity-rich landscape shaped by over a decade of community input. The transformation of the 12-acre site, long overlooked despite its central location, unifies the fragmented layout into a connected civic space, introducing a forest-themed play area, a dog pa...
Pazhou South Waterfront Park
This four-hectare urban waterfront park is a pilot project in the landscape renovation of Hungpuchong River, setting a high standard for riverfront public space in Guangzhou. The new public realm aims to connect the surrounding neighborhood and transportation hub to the river, bringing people back to the water’s edge.
The park activates the waterfront a...
Buffalo Bayou Park
This thoroughly renovated, 160-acre public space deploys a vigorous agenda of urban ecological services and improved pedestrian accessibility, with two new bridges connecting surrounding neighborhoods. The design utilizes channel stabilization techniques, enhancing the bayou’s natural meanders and offering increased resiliency against floodwaters while preserv...