United Daily News Plaza is located on one of the busiest streets of Taipei – Chong Shao East Road. It is a 6,000-square-meter mixed-use project with two building sites. Site A consists of a mixed-use building with a bank and cafe on the first floor, and service apartments on all the floors above. Site B is a residential building. The main design concept creates an urban forest, unifying the two sites to give a distinctive image within an extremely busy urban context. The “forest” is created with newly planted street trees at the perimeter of the site, especially as an allee along Chong Shao East Road. To ensure the trees grow to a sufficient size, SWA worked with the architect to reserve 1.5 meter soil depth on top of the parking structure. Permeable paving, a subsurface drainage system were are also introduced to optimize growth. Densely planted cherry trees in the reading garden further impart the feeling of being surrounded by forest; chinaberry trees interspersed in the main plaza provide shade in the summer and a change of character throughout the seasons.
Since the owner is one of the earliest newspaper groups in Taiwan, the landscape design is also inspired by the traditional printing press system. The traditional Chinese printing press consist of square blocks, this inspiration has been transformed into a modular layout of the site, and also carried through in the understory planting palette, mist fountain, and bench design.
KGI Financial Headquarters
KGI Financial Headquarters is in the heart of the Taipei Metropolitan area, along a 70-meter-wide, tree-lined boulevard. The design focuses on creating harmony between people and the environment. To preserve four heritage trees on the site, the buildings were set back, and excavation was minimized to provide an optimal environment for these trees. The resultin...
Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel
SWA provided full landscape architectural services for this mixed-use development, which includes a 120-room luxury hotel, five villa residences, a supporting office complex, fitness center, spa and multi-use space. The Sand Hill Hotel and associated offices are nestled onto a dramatic hillside that slopes toward the Santa Cruz Mountains immediately beyond I-2...
Poly Zhuhai
Poly Zhuhai, a large mixed-use development, is located at the central axis of Hengqin Island, a transformed landfill site near Macao. The site is south of the small Hengqin Mountain, facing a civic sports park on the other side.
The main office tower has a large, square footprint, elevated six to seven meters above the street level, with retail programs...
Williams Square
For decades, Williams Square has been the walkable “living room” for Irving, Texas’s Las Colinas community. The plaza’s iconic bronze mustang sculptures, designed by artist Robert Glen, are among the state’s most iconic landscape features, speaking to the state’s identity and history.
SWA’s engagement with the plaza is longstanding, dating back to the 1...