Chase Center, the new Golden State Warriors’ arena, anchors and enlivens San Francisco’s emerging Sports and Entertainment District. Integrated along a transit corridor within a formerly industrial part of the city, this new 24/7 facility offers a venue for events of many scales as well as a central public open space that doubles as the neighborhood’s outdoor living room.
To create an inviting destination, landscape designers at SWA created a series of plazas that are at once distinctive and flexible. These public outdoor spaces are tucked and wrapped around the arena building at varying levels, offering discrete nooks or view platforms of different sizes and perspectives. A large, publicly accessible central plaza comfortably accommodates crowds during large events, and can be configured to meet different programmatic needs. Custom-designed planters/seating modules can be deployed throughout to frame different events or uses, such as ice skating, farmers’ markets, an instant micro-garden, or a car show, and can also aid pedestrian flow during large events at the arena.
Whether they have game tickets or not, visitors are invited to stroll up a grand staircase to take in spectacular views of the Bay, enjoy a picnic lunch, visit the retail and dining outlets, or meet friends for a movie alfresco.
Landscape design unifies and supports those activities with an environment that is strategic and sensible, attractive and sustainable. In fulfilling San Francisco’s strict codes for water runoff, designers created a special terraced garden along 3rd Street that defines both defines the new space and reveals the bio-filtration process by which plants help to cleanse all water on site. Native California planting throughout the ten-acre parcel of land conserves water, provides a shade canopy, and unifies the area’s character.
Guangzhou Vanke Center
Guangzhou Vanke Center incorporates commercial, and office uses in an urban setting. To echo the “cascading” concept of the architectural design, the landscape architecture was inspired by the fluidity of water, as well as the unique local cultural heritage of dragon boats. The design provides for different types of social activity with variously scaled spaces...
Minute Maid Park
The much-anticipated ballpark for the Houston Astros, which opened in 2000, includes approximately 42,000 seats, a retractable roof, an attached micro-brewery, and tour bus drop off. SWA, along with Rey de la Reza Architects, designed the entire ballpark site from the building to the curb, including the remodeling of historic Union Station, now part of the sta...
Kasumigaseki Plaza Renewal
Tokyo’s first high-rise and architectural landmark is located in the heart of downtown, where government and major private business offices are concentrated. Urban growth changed the dynamics of the building’s surroundings and left its public spaces ineffective and barren. The addition of new mixed-use buildings provided the owners with an opportunity to bring...
One Uptown
Bringing a singular landscape design expression to a site featuring two buildings designed by different architects, the SWA/Balsley team worked to seamlessly integrate a variety of outdoor spaces to accommodate the mixed-use One Uptown. At the ground level, tree-lined streetscapes and bike lanes lead visitors to a coworking and dining courtyard along Burnet Ro...