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 1980s. Initially, the plaza needed to take on a new life as a mixed-use environment. More recently, a growing number of live-work-play residents inspired a new role for Williams Square: one that retained its identity while promoting walkability and active transportation. The original redesign added green space and outdoor seating areas to encourage residents, visitors, and office workers to linger in an identifiably Texan landscape amid sleek new office buildings – recent efforts have reinforced these aspects.
With recent design updates, SWA has refurbished the plaza’s horse sculptures within their signature water feature, refreshing their patina and profile while maintaining the integrity of the original vision. A new overlook and additional shade features have been added to the site, making Williams Square a more fully activated destination that is linked to its surrounding district and continues to serve its ever-growing community. The site’s plantings remain native and local, with live oaks prominent, while the granite plaza and artfully eroded watercourse recall and celebrate the Texan landscape heritage.
Huamao Center
Huamao Center adds a major civic destination to the edge of Suzhou’s old town. Occupying 23.5 acres along the historic Shantang Canal, the project layers retail, office, and hospitality space into a human-scaled district rooted in the area’s history of water-based commerce, known for its classic Jiangnan water-town architectural style, with narrow lanes and st...
Guangzhou Vanke Center
Guangzhou Vanke Center incorporates commercial, and office uses in an urban setting. To echo the “cascading” concept of the architectural design, the landscape architecture was inspired by the fluidity of water, as well as the unique local cultural heritage of dragon boats. The design provides for different types of social activity with variously scaled spaces...
OCT Bao’an Waterfront Cultural Park
Bao’an Waterfront Park is an essential amenity for future residents of Shenzhen’s rapidly expanding Qianhai area, and is also an important connection between the urban fabric and the ocean. The key landscape frameworks for the park are its riverine interpretation aspects and water’s edge programs. The “Eco River” will bring water experiences into the green spa...
One Uptown
Bringing a singular landscape design expression to a site featuring two buildings designed by different architects, the SWA/Balsley team worked to seamlessly integrate a variety of outdoor spaces to accommodate the mixed-use One Uptown. At the ground level, tree-lined streetscapes and bike lanes lead visitors to a coworking and dining courtyard along Burnet Ro...