The “Grand Candela” commemorates the victims and survivors of the August 2019 mass shooting tragedy at Walmart’s Cielo Vista store. Inspired by the motif of an everlasting candle and set in a plaza within the store’s parking lot, the memorial offers a dedicated place of healing and remembrance. Columns of perforated metal, one for each life lost, are joined together in a luminous circle of unity that rises thirty feet– high enough to be seen by the impacted community residing on both sides of the border.
During the day, the metal structure glimmers in the sunlight, the apertures of the individual columns become more discernable upon approach. Programmed lighting at night lends a healing effect, with a votive-inspired glow brightening during the day and dimming to soft vigilance at night. The memorial reads as a luminous beacon, a healing reminder of the community’s oneness.
Alief Park and Neighborhood Center
In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Houston was compelled to reassess community preparedness. The 37-acre Alief Center, situated in one of the city’s most culturally diverse areas, addresses longstanding issues of disinvestment and environmental injustice while fostering physical and social resilience.
Elevated above the 100-year floodplain, the...
CSCEC Steel Headquarters Office and Museum
CSCEC Steel is a division of the world’s largest construction company, China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited. CSCEC Steel is recognized as a leading global steel structure manufacturer; their projects include the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, the Shanghai IFC, the new Abu Dhabi International Airport, and the 26th Universiade Main Stadium. To...
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
This office building’s roof garden celebrates a potent image of the native Texas landscape: the level, grass-covered plains emerging from a wooded riparian area. A design vocabulary of native, drought-tolerant plant materials, especially selected to react to light and air movement, reinforces this design approach. The project serves as a two-acre rooftop garde...
Elk Grove Civic Center
SWA’s design for this community resource improves upon part of a 56-acre master plan with a civic center campus set within a beautiful park, and an added public outdoor commons. The pedestrian-friendly commons weaves new buildings together with mature trees and an outdoor living space linking together a community center, an aquatics center, and a future librar...