While the beaches of Santa Monica are arguably one of the most iconic landscapes in Southern California, the trails running through them are less well known. Among those is the Marvin Braude Bike Trail, which runs from Mexico to Oregon and is commonly referred to as “The Strand” by locals. In recent years, The Strand bike trail had become congested and dangerous for visitors and recreational users who were crowding the concrete sidewalk at varying speeds. SWA, along with team members KPFF and Alta Design and Planning, provided a design update to this valuable recreational amenity so that all types of users can experience the space safely. Recognizing that this community amenity has a wide range of stakeholders, the design team, with the support of the City of Santa Monica, conducted community outreach to remain transparent about the process. SWA also provided support through exhibit production and by conducting interviews and open houses.
Jeffrey Open Space Park
The Jeffrey Open Space Park represents approximately 96 acres of park and trails, with an average width of 265 ft. The three-mile long spine is designed for passive uses with a network of trails that connect to residential neighborhoods and active recreation parks.
The design process included a series of community workshops to solicit community’s commen...
Guiyang Hot Springs
Guiyang Hot Springs, located in Guiyang City, China, brings together the rhythm of the Nanming River, and surrounding trails and trees to create a new urban ‘living room’ in the interstitial space created by new development and roadway infrastructure. Nestled into a mountainous site, the master planning addressed elevation changes of up to 100 meters and the e...
Guangming OCT Trail
With its grand landscape views, Guangming Trail is both a green, healthy “slow circulation” system in an urban area, and an exemplar of innovation and sustainability. The trail’s topography changes as it progresses through mountains, valleys, hills, and farms. By considering vegetation, habitats, hydrology, and topography, sites with high value and potential w...
Houston Green Loop
With the coming expansion and realignment of the highways around Downtown Houston, SWA identified the opportunity to enact a bold vision: a multi-use branded connectivity system that will leverage the immense reconstruction investment. SWA’s concept creates a continuous pedestrian loop over, under, and around the downtown highway system, thus redirecting the u...