A gateway for China’s open-door policy, Shekou has revitalized its fragmented and hazardous coastline into a dynamic six-kilometer promenade that masterfully captures the area’s cultural and natural essence.
The promenade repurposes the disconnected former industrial waterfront into a celebrated open space system with new recreation programs and culturally enriched landscape spaces infused with Shekou’s authentic character. The redesign caters to visitors of all ages, offering amenities such as nursing rooms, shaded rest spots, and engaging playgrounds. Imaginative ‘mountains,’ undulating landforms, waterfront plazas, native gardens, and versatile trails harmoniously coexist with the existing fishing facilities. The repurposed Shekou lighthouse, now a captivating focal point of the Memorial Terrace, is embraced by a leisure terrace, an urban tidal pool, and carefully selected native plantings. Together, these elements create a unique environment that serves as a living tribute to Shekou’s past, present, and future.
While much of China’s past has been obscured by contemporary development, Shekou’s waterfront stands as a thriving mixed-use urban core that showcases the region’s rich industrial and natural heritage.
Xingfa Quarry Park
Just north of Beijing, between the Great Wall and Yanqi Lake, the Xingfa Cement Plant once fueled China’s construction boom, operating for over two decades before its 2015 closure under the National Air Quality Action Plan. Today, an adjacent quarry that once provided raw materials has been remediated as a 107.5-hectare terraced park that anchors an accompanyi...
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...
Nasu Highland
SWA collaborated with the architect to provide site planning, schematic landscape design and design development for this brand new membership clubhouse facility with an 18-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., International. The development includes a major arrival entry with a stone podium surrounded by a fountain pool. The clubhouse is surrou...
San Jacinto Plaza
SWA’s redesign of San Jacinto Plaza, a historic gathering place in El Paso’s downtown business district provides a state-of-the-art urban open space, while protecting and celebrating the history and culture of the site. The project was the result of an intensive community process involving input from a wide range of constituents. Active programming, environmen...