“The Bagby Street Improvement in Downtown Houston sets the tone for 21st century multimodal infrastructure while stitching together civic uses along a beautiful corridor for people of all ages and abilities. It is transformational, to say the least.”
– Luis Guarjardo, AICP and the APA Houston Board of Directors 2022-2023
Inspired by the success of Avenida Houston, on the east side of the city’s Downtown, Mayor Sylvester Turner wished to create something equally iconic on the west side. Bagby Street connects civic uses (including City Hall and its annex), cultural uses (Hobby Center, Bayou Place, and others) and parks (including Sam Houston Park and Tranquility Park).
The project team proposed an urban trail that would establish a safe, off-street bike path through downtown, connect to major destinations, and help to stitch together the region’s emerging bike network. Connections include on-street facilities as well as links to the trails of Bayou Greenways via Buffalo Bayou. The comfortable, off-street urban trail provides a safe and pleasant environment for pedestrians and cyclists moving along the corridor.
Prior to interventions, Bagby Street was underperforming: characterized by barricaded sidewalks and crumbling wheelchair ramps. Now, this urban trail provides a safe, off-street bike path through downtown, connecting to civic and cultural uses as well as parks, and serving as a gateway into downtown from the city’s west side. In 2022, the project was honored with a Transportation Planning Gold Award by the American Planning Association’s Texas Chapter, for the Houston Section.
Houston’s Gateway Art Bridges : I-59/69 Beautification
As a city dominated by freeway infrastructure, Houston will be reconstructing portions of its iconic freeways in the near future. This created an opportunity for SWA to reclaim the Houston Interstate experience with a temporary art installation that provides a bold pop of color celebrating Houston’s diversity at eight key threshold bridges along the I-59/69 co...
Milton Street Park
Milton Street Park is a 1.2-acre linear urban park alongside the Ballona Creek Bike Trail in Los Angeles, California. The plan incorporates numerous green-design elements, including the use of recycled materials, native planting, flow-through planters and treatment alongside the 1,000-foot-long, 45-foot-wide stretch of land. A variety of special elements such...
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...
Gubei Gold Street
SWA was selected to conceptualize, design, and realize a rare find in bustling Shanghai—a pedestrian mall (Gold Street). The corridor occupies three city blocks, is flanked by 20-story high-rise residential towers with retail at street level and book-ended by SWA-designed parks. Creating an iconic presence and enlivening the area, the mall features plazas, fou...