“The cultural significance of the park—stretching over Interstate 35E, reconnecting neighborhoods in Oak Cliff that had been physically and economically separated for decades—cannot be overstated. This park has the potential to change Dallas for the better … Halperin Park represents Dallas at its best.”
– Dallas Morning News Editorial Board
In the 1950s, I-35E was routed through the South Dallas community of Oak Cliff, demolishing a thriving Black commercial corridor and one of the first Freedmen’s towns established after the Civil War. In the decades that followed, as in so many cities across the U.S., freeway construction severed long-standing social and economic ties and set in motion decades of disinvestment.
Halperin Park, opened in 2026 after nearly a decade of advocacy and engagement, begins to repair the divide, spanning the highway between Ewing and Marsalis Avenues and restoring a walkable connection along the original path of 12th Street. Designed by SWA and HKS, the park translates Oak Cliff’s cultural and environmental history into built form, with sculptural landforms recalling the limestone and shale geology beneath the neighborhood, shaping subtle grade changes that guide movement and frame views toward the downtown skyline.
Across the deck, a sequence of public spaces includes a walkable promenade and Oak Cliff Walk of Fame along the original path of 12th Street, mass-timber bandshell and multipurpose pavilion, flexible great lawn, treehouse-inspired playground, perennial gardens, shaded seating, and two water features that extend comfort through North Texas summers. Opened amid a nationwide reckoning with the damage caused by midcentury highway construction, Halperin Park is rooted in Oak Cliff history while joining a broader effort to reclaim freeway infrastructure as public ground.
Hill at Sims
Set along Sims Bayou in Sunnyside, one of Houston’s oldest historically Black communities, Hill at Sims transforms a 106-acre stormwater detention basin into a regional park that pairs flood protection with public access, ecological restoration, and everyday recreation. Built around a four-story mound of earth created during the basin’s excavation in 2005, the...
Temple City Playgrounds
Ten miles east of Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, Temple City sought to upgrade its aging parks and existing playgrounds into safe and welcoming spaces for community members of all ages. SWA worked with the city to host a community engagement workshop focused on renovating two city playgrounds: Live Oak Park, the city’s largest park, span...
King Salman Park
The largest urban public park ever built, King Salman Park is a defining element of Saudi Vision 2030—an ambitious effort to transform Riyadh into a more livable, sustainable, and globally competitive city. Envisioned as the “Green Lung of Riyadh,” the 16.6-square-kilometer park spans seven times the size of London’s Hyde Park and five times that of New York’s...
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...