San Jacinto Plaza

SWA’s redesign of San Jacinto Plaza, a historic gathering place in El Paso’s downtown business district provides a state-of-the-art urban open space, while protecting and celebrating the history and culture of the site. The project was the result of an intensive community process involving input from a wide range of constituents. Active programming, environmen...

Polliwog Park

Originally built in the 1970s, Polliwog Park is a high-use neighborhood amenity that provides active recreation and play facilities to local families. The original playground was replaced in 2003 but required a full update in 2020 to account for routine flooding. SWA’s design allows the park to remain an active community feature year-round.

In addition ...

Changsha Baxizhou Island

Over many decades, public agencies in China have sought to solve growing flooding issues in a defensive way: fortifying and hardening river edges, raising levee heights, and ultimately separating the people from historical connections to the water. With an understanding of river flow processes and volumes and of wetland and native forest ecology, this separati...

Guangzhou Shipyard Waterfront Park

On the west bank of the Pearl River, the historic Guangzhou Shipyard has been transformed into a waterfront park that reconnects residents with the water while honoring over a century of industrial heritage. Once a Qing Dynasty fortress, the site became a shipyard in 1914 and grew into an almost 50-hectare complex—one of the earliest and most renowned in China...