The west side of Los Angeles has always been a desirable destination for businesses, visitors, and residents: easily reached by vehicular and public transportation, and with access to the Pacific Ocean. Community clusters have formed within this area, establishing the need for respite within the hustle and bustle of the heavily trafficked Wilshire Boulevard corridor.
SWA’s design for this park expresses multiple overlapping narratives of history, culture, and nature. Within walking distance of Wilshire Park and the former Kuruvungna Springs site of the indigenous Tongva tribe, the park provides a strolling landscape with a variety of grade changes, overlooks, and open lawns with a signature canopy. Open to the public, the park is inspired in part by the geological formations of Los Angeles, notable for horizontal layers that are emphasized in the design.
Ambleside Mixed-Use Development
Landscape improvements for this new mixed-use development integrate and enhance the streetscape improvement measures the city of West Vancouver is currently implementing, providing a vibrant and pedestrian friendly landscape along the entire perimeter of the site. The landscape design for the 1300 Block, Marine Drive South at Ambleside Village Centre contribut...
Hunter's Point Shipyard and Candlestick Point
Perched on the edge of San Francisco Bay, the Hunters Point Shipyard was an important naval manufacturing center for the WWI and WWII war efforts. The abandoned shipyard and Candlestick Point were combined into a new, mixed-use residential, retail and light industry development—the largest in San Francisco since WWII. Thomas Balsley Associates collaborated wit...
Santana Row
SWA provided full landscape architectural services for the development of a neo-traditional town center near downtown San Jose. The client’s vision called for a variety of design styles to create a town center with an impression of growth over time. This theme is expressed in building elevations as well as landscape design. The restaurants and boutique r...
Avenida Houston
For many visitors, the George R. Brown Convention Center serves as Downtown Houston’s gateway. Ahead of hosting the Super Bowl, city officials sought to transform the convention center’s uninspiring eight-lane drop-off into a pedestrian plaza for civic enrichment, art, and leisure. SWA took on this ambitious 140,000-square-foot redesign, converting five city b...