SWA provided full landscape architectural services for the development of a neo-traditional town center near downtown San Jose. The client’s vision called for a variety of design styles to create a town center with an impression of growth over time. This theme is expressed in building elevations as well as landscape design. The restaurants and boutique retail stores on the main street are topped with the apartments, condominiums, lofts and the boutique hotel. The streets themselves have a “European” flavor. The 40-acre site contains 680,000 square feet of retail space including a shop/boutique-lined main street, 1,200 residences, 200 luxury hotel rooms, 15 to 20 restaurants, and entertainment facilities in a setting of landscaped parks, plazas and streetscapes. The project included completely upgrading the infrastructure of the area, transportation circuits, parking, access to I-280 and I-880; and wireless Internet access throughout.
Santa Monica North Beach Trail Improvements
While the beaches of Santa Monica are arguably one of the most iconic landscapes in Southern California, the trails running through them are less well known. Among those is the Marvin Braude Bike Trail, which runs from Mexico to Oregon and is commonly referred to as “The Strand” by locals. In recent years, The Strand bike trail had become congested and dangero...
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...
Ningbo East New Town Eco-Corridor
SWA provided planning and design services for the 3.3km-long, 250-acre metropolitan Ningbo Eco-Corridor. The project transforms a former agricultural plain that had been taken over by industrial use into urban green infrastructure. Located in the heart of the Yangtze River Delta on China’s coastline, Ningbo is one of China’s oldest cities, with an area of 3,61...
Avenida Houston
For many visitors, the George R. Brown Convention Center serves as Downtown Houston’s gateway. Ahead of hosting the Super Bowl, city officials sought to transform the convention center’s uninspiring eight-lane drop-off into a pedestrian plaza for civic enrichment, art, and leisure. SWA took on this ambitious 140,000-square-foot redesign, converting five city b...