An iconic beach trail in Santa Monica is made safer and more accessible for everyone
{"autoplay":"true","autoplay_speed":"8000","speed":"1000","arrows":"true","dots":"false","loop":"true","nav_slide_column":5,"rtl":"false"}
{"autoplay":"true","autoplay_speed":"8000","speed":"1000","arrows":"true","dots":"false","loop":"true","nav_slide_column":5,"rtl":"false"}

DETAILS

LocationSanta Monica, California United States
ClientCity of Santa Monica
SERVICE: ,
Size16 acres

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 dangerous for visitors and recreational users who were crowding the concrete sidewalk at varying speeds. SWA, along with team members KPFF and Alta Design and Planning, provided a design update to this valuable recreational amenity so that all types of users can experience the space safely. Recognizing that this community amenity has a wide range of stakeholders, the design team, with the support of the City of Santa Monica, conducted community outreach to remain transparent about the process. SWA also provided support through exhibit production and by conducting interviews and open houses.

Related Projects

Promenade on Forest

Opened in June 2020, the Promenade on Forest transformed one of downtown Laguna Beach’s primary streets into a pedestrian-only promenade for the summer. The effort converted a three-block section of the road from a one-way vehicular corridor with angled parking stalls into a car-free zone with cafe seating, work from local artists, and retail display areas. Th...

Houston Green Loop

With the coming expansion and realignment of the highways around Downtown Houston, SWA identified the opportunity to enact a bold vision: a multi-use branded connectivity system that will leverage the immense reconstruction investment. SWA’s concept creates a continuous pedestrian loop over, under, and around the downtown highway system, thus redirecting the u...

Beijing Finance Street

Awarded after an international competition, the Beijing Finance Center Master Plan creates an international destination in West Beijing. The project, which includes a mix of uses—housing, retail, hotel office and cultural facilities—is focused in terms of the landscape design on a central park known as “The Heart” of western Beijing. SWA’s wo...

Guangming OCT Trail

With its grand landscape views, Guangming Trail is both a green, healthy “slow circulation” system in an urban area, and an exemplar of innovation and sustainability. The trail’s topography changes as it progresses through mountains, valleys, hills, and farms. By considering vegetation, habitats, hydrology, and topography, sites with high value and potential w...

Ricardo Lara Park

Ricardo Lara Park is a vibrant city park and a case study in landscape infrastructure.  It demonstrates how a small investment and creative thinking about landscape can transform the very infrastructure that has long divided and isolated a community into an amenity that unites it, offering much-needed environmental and recreational benefits.

Here, more ...

Santana Row

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 r...

Guangming OCT Trail

With its grand landscape views, Guangming Trail is both a green, healthy “slow circulation” system in an urban area, and an exemplar of innovation and sustainability. The trail’s topography changes as it progresses through mountains, valleys, hills, and farms. By considering vegetation, habitats, hydrology, and topography, sites with high value and potential w...

Rosemont Pedestrian Bridge and Trails

The Rosemont Bridge and connecting trails layer pedestrian infrastructure onto the Buffalo Bayou corridor in Houston, Texas and is a significant step in realizing the larger vision of a more accessible Houston. Running through downtown Houston, Buffalo Bayou is one of the significant natural bayou corridors in the City, but is cut off from adjacent neighborhoo...