This one-million-square-meter waterfront development, the single largest regeneration project in Serbia’s history, aims to create a world-class, sustainable destination for civic and cultural attractions, forging human and physical connections to the Sava River where none existed before. Located near the historic town center of Belgrade, the site’s new 2-kilometer promenade is a key part of the development, acting as a full-scale investigation into the project’s potential. The area is already more popular than the city imagined and new construction, including a tower by SOM, continues to define the evolving waterfront at a pace of 50 meters per month.
SWA’s design created a series of places that enhanced year-round programming and activation strategies. The city’s culture is realized in many design details, including the use of cast-off railway parts from the site’s historic core. Planned public transportation, stormwater and digital infrastructure, and walkable pedestrian-scaled neighborhoods and districts will incorporate existing floating restaurants and bars; specific waterside improvements will target the cyclists and fishermen who have long populated this post-industrial “edge landscape.”
Jin Hai Wan Riverfront Park
Located along Chongqing’s Jialing River, this new linear public park offered unique challenges: a 30-meter annual river fluctuation, steep topography, and low-impact maintenance of a continuous riparian corridor. Adjacent new urban development, with attendant needs for green space, called for a flexible and resilient approach to the park’s landscape and infras...
St Johns Riverfront Design Incentive Strategy
As part of a larger effort to establish its downtown as a center for business and culture during a period of unprecedented growth, the City of Jacksonville was in need of a design and investment strategy for its underused waterfront along both banks of the St. Johns River. The design team’s approach entails both a large-scale and a node-based strategy, identif...
Hangzhou Grand Canal
For centuries, the Beijing-Hangzhou’s Grand Canal – a staggering 1,000 linear miles which remain the world’s longest man-made waterway – was a lifeline for commerce and communication. The water’s edge was necessary for trade, a logical place to live, and often a driver of innovation. However, as with many waterfronts globally, it eventually fell victim to the...
Hunter's Point South Waterfront Park
Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park was envisioned as an international model of urban ecology and a world laboratory for innovative sustainable thinking. The project is a collaboration between Thomas Balsley Associates and WEISS/MANFREDI for the open space and park design with ARUP as the prime consultant and infrastructure designer.
What was once a ba...