The Shenzhen Longgang River Blueway System is envisioned to unlock the tremendous land value of this 13-mile-long suburban watershed and galvanize the city’s future growth. SWA’s proposal addresses urbanization issues pertaining to water, the environment, and open space shortage, while also activating industrial and cultural revitalization in the surrounding district. The design builds riverside ecological corridors at a regional scale while guaranteeing water quality and quantity; by incorporating pockets of native planting and habitat that extend deep into the adjacent urban areas via rain gardens and bioswales, streets move water as well as people and vehicles. Striking murals line the riverside walls and punctuate urban villages and new developments, conveying the history of Longgang and the Hakka people who inhabited these lands centuries ago.
Residents and visitors are offered a rich variety of outdoor pursuits: art, craft, and food markets; music events, and fascinating evening light shows. Unique developments engage the river as a new recreational resource. Sporting opportunities for young adults, adventure play for children and families, and birdwatching for seniors define the new open spaces along the river.
Alief Park and Neighborhood Center
In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Houston was compelled to reassess community preparedness. The 37-acre Alief Center, situated in one of the city’s most culturally diverse areas, addresses longstanding issues of disinvestment and environmental injustice while fostering physical and social resilience.
Elevated above the 100-year floodplain, the...
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...
Embankment Square
The Embankment Square is located along the east bank of the Huangpu River in Shanghai. The project consists of landscape areas in three office parcels and one waterfront park parcel. The view of the site is remarkable, looking toward the landmark skyscrapers of Lujiazui Financial Center, Nanpu Bridge, the Bund, and the Minsheng CBD.
The design concept c...
Shunde Guipan River Waterfront
SWA participated in a competition reimagining 19-kilometers of the Guipan River waterfront in Shunde, China. While the Pearl River Delta is one of the fastest growing regions of Southern China, one of the many casualties of this growth was the delta itself. Presently, Shunde has a growing flooding problem enhanced by channelizing, condensing, and containing th...